Over 40% Applicants Absent At The AMU Entrance Exam; COVID-19 Continues To Hamper The Education Sector – The Second Angle

The combined entrance exams for AMU Class 11^th Science/Dip. in Engineering and Class 11^th Commerce & Arts/Humanities were held at the Aligarh Muslim University and eight other different cities on Sunday, November 22.

All the necessary arrangements were made and ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ (SOPs) of the Union Health Ministry were followed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, as reported by the Public Relations Office, AMU.

32,239 students had applied for the Science/Dip in Engineering test out of which just 18,176 students sat for the exam (56% approx). This was quite an unusual scenario for the Alig fraternity as this number was unexpectedly low as compared to previous years 11^th entrances. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic pretty much explains the reason behind this scenario. Every year the AMUEE is held in March and the application process starts in February, this year too it was scheduled to be held as usual but then arrived the infamous COVID-19 pandemic. While the internal & local applicants may get benefitted from it, the ongoing crisis definitely posed a challenged to the external or distant candidates who may have faced difficulty in travelling all the way to the assigned centres in different cities.

The test was held at 9 different cities all over India including Aligarh, Bareilly, Meerut & Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Patna & Kishanganj in Bihar, Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir and Kolkata in West Bengal respectively.

The Science/Dip in Eng. Test was conducted in the first shift i.e. 10 AM to 12 Noon while the Commerce/Humanities test was held in the afternoon i.e. 3 PM to 5 PM. For the smooth conduct of the entrance examination, senior faculty members were appointed as observers at every centre in Aligarh and overall in-charges at the centres which were outside Aligarh.

The University administration also appreciated the efforts of the District administration for their assistance to conduct the test in an organised manner.