Union Health Ministry has released Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the safe conduct of JEE and NEET examinations, in the backdrop of growing concerns across the country with regard to the health and safety of candidates. The guidelines come after the beginning of JEE Main exam in view of the fact that many a time exam centres were crowded with parents, students guardians and staff members.
Some of the guidelines released for the movement within the JEE exam centre is as follows:
- It is mandatory to maintain physical distancing everywhere, wherein the number of people in the elevators will be restricted, duly maintaining physical distancing norms.
- Wheelchairs if provided should be disinfected regularly.
- PwD students who avail a scribe are required to maintain physical distancing between them and both must wear masks.
- OR code, online forms, digital signatures etc. can be adopted for the conduct of exams in order to reduce contact.
- Use of spit/saliva for counting/distributing sheets and sharing of personal stationery/belongings shall not be allowed.
- Drinking water should be provided in the exam hall preferably in disposable cups
- Seating arrangement in the examination hall to be made in such a way that adequate social distancing is maintained.
- The invigilators are required to sanitise their hands before distribution of question papers/answer sheets. The examinees will also sanitize their hands before receiving such papers and handing them back to invigilators. For online/computer-based examination, the systems shall be disinfected using alcohol wipes before and after the conduct of the examination.
- Record of all exam functionaries/examinees shall be maintained in the system for future reference and traceability.
- For air-conditioning/ventilation, the guidelines of CPWD shall be followed which emphasize that the (i) temperature setting of all air conditioning devices should be in the range of 24-30°C, (ii) relative humidity should be in the range of 40- 70%, (iii) re-circulation of air to be avoided to the extent possible, (iv) intake of fresh air should be as much as possible and (v) cross ventilation should be adequate
