In all, students were to appear for the exam in 43 centres across the city. In some centres, students were asked to leave the classrooms barely 15 minutes prior to the start of the exam.
“What could be worse than this? We are being told at the last moment that we will not be taking our entrance examination, for which we have prepared for the last two years. Initially, there was no clarity on whether we will be able to sit for our exam. Later, a notice was put up saying that the exam has been postponed to 12 noon,” said Ritika Garg, a student from Chandigarh appearing at the KBDAV-7 centre.
Their parents also felt harassed. “We reached Chandigarh by bus a night before, as the exam was scheduled at 9.30 am. What can we expect from the authorities, which failed to conduct even a single exam? Now, it has been rescheduled — while the first paper will be from 12 to 3 pm, the second will be from 4 to 7 pm. We do not know whether we will be able to get any conveyance to return home,” said Sushil Kumar, father of Renu, an examinee from a village in Himachal Pradesh.
When asked, the coordinators of the centres and school principals claimed that the situation was unforeseen. “It cannot be denied that there was confusion, but it was under control. We are sorry for the inconvenience and harassment but we tried to do our best in the best possible time,” said Dr Rakesh Sachdeva, principal of DAV Model School, Sector 15.
The five centres where the AIEEE examination was cancelled included GMSSS-16, 8, 19, 21 and 10. “The authorities had reduced our children’s future to a joke. First they said that the exam would be held at noon, now a notice says that it has been cancelled,” said a parent.
The principal of GMSSS-16, Anujit Kaur — who had to call in the police to handle the situation — said: “When we reached the Syndicate Bank branch in Sector 17, the bank officials refused to hand over the question papers. They said that according to the orders of the CBSE regional office, the exam will clash with Armed Forces Medical College entrance test. The exam was cancelled in five centres, including ours.”
The notice put up at these centres also stated that the examinees may contact the regional office of CBSE at Sector 5. Following this, parents and students started gathering at the CBSE office.
Sunil, who had come from Fatehabad to appear for the exam, said: “The notice told us to contact the regional CBSE centre. But here too, no one is listening to us.”
Officialspeak
We have decided to reschedule the cancelled examination on May 8. But we are getting representations from students that they have other entrance examinations on that day. So, we are holding meetings to work out an alternate date
Vineet Joshi, Chairman and Central Vigilance Officer of CBSE
I am sure AIEEE and CBSE will be able to resolve the issue in an effective manner. Till everybody is given an equal opportunity and evaluated on an equal platform, there should not be any concern over the quality of students
Manoj Dutta, Director, PEC, University of Technology
The students are as such under stress to sit for all such entrance examinations. On top of that, when such a thing happens, it is very disheartening for them as well as their parents
V K Rattan, Chairman of University Institute of Chemical Engineering, PU
Trouble for Students appearing for AFMC exam
The students who appeared for AFMC exam at the Government Model Senior Secondary School in Sector 20 were made to sit inside the centre hours after the exam was over. The gates were locked and nobody was allowed to enter or leave. Though the exam got over at 6.30 pm, the students were kept waiting till 8.30 pm. The reason: Answersheets were being cross-checked with the roll and serial numbers.
