Showing its concern over the difficulties students might face while appearing for the NEET UG 2021 at examination centres located in just select 7 districts in the state of Odisha amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government has urged the National Testing Agency (NTA) to consider opening additional exam centres in the state.
This special request has been made by the Additional Chief Secretary Health and Family Welfare PK Mohapatra to the Director General of NTA Vineet Joshi in a formal letter.
NEET 2021 – Important Points made by the Odisha Government
- Mohapatra, in his letter to Joshi, has urged him to consider setting up one NEET examination centre in each district of Odisha
- He further pointed out that Odisha has vast expanses of tribal pockets. These comprise of geographically inaccessible areas far away from the urban areas. Due to this, several students in the state may get deprived of appearing for the NEET-UG 2021 exam since they will have to travel long and hard distances to reach the exam centres.
- Mohapatra further stated in the letter – “In view of COVID-19 pandemic, it will be highly unsafe for the students to visit the few examination centres physically to appear the test. Further due to the frequent lockdown/shutdown imposed by different district administrations transportation system is very often disrupted making the movement of the student further worse.”
- In his letter, Mohapatra also reminded the NTA about the meeting conducted on 9 March 2021 wherein the state government has raised such an issue.
Note: The NTA has notified to set up examination centres in seven urban pockets of Odisha namely in Angul, Balasore, Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela and Sambalpur.
NEET 2021
As per the official notification released by the NTA, the NEET UG exam 2021 will be conducted in 11 languages, including Hindi and English on 1st August 2021 (Sunday). When the application window opens, candidates will be able to download the application forms by visiting the official website – www.ntaneet.nic.in.
As per the notice released by NTA, in addition to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and veterinary seats, the scores of NEET 2021 may even be used for nursing admissions. The notification mentions, “The Result of NEET (UG) – 2021 may be utilised by other Entities of Central/State Governments (including Indian Nursing Council/ Nursing Colleges/ Schools, JIPMER) for counselling/admission to relevant courses [including B.Sc. (Nursing) and B.Sc. (Life Sciences)] in accordance with their rules/norms/guidelines.” However, a final clarification on nursing admission through the NEET exam is still pending.
