Payyanur: The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance (NEET), 2023, went off smoothly in most centres across Kerala on Sunday though a few centres reported delays and some candidates couldn’t take the test.
A candidate who was caught in a traffic gridlock on the National Highway while on the way to exam centre on Sunday could not write the test as she was four minutes late.
The exam centre for Nayana George of Nirmalagiri, Koothuparamba in Kannur district, was at the Latheefiya English School at Perumba in Payyanur. Even though the candidate had to report at the exam centre only by 1:30 pm, she started from home along with her parents, George and Rosemary, at 9 am with George in the driving seat. The car was expected to take two hours to cover the distance of 62 km; and so, they started from home even without taking any food, with the hope of reaching Payyannur by 11 am and reporting at the exam hall after having their breakfast.
They reached Chala in Kannur, which is the entry point to the National Highway, on time. Thereafter, traffic congestion put paid to her hopes of reaching the venue well before time.
A distance of 46.3 km needed to be covered from the spot to the exam centre. There was an uncloggable traffic hold-up at Ezhilode, where they reached at 12 noon by negotiating the traffic jams in Kannur, Pallikkunnu, and Puthiyatheruvu. A container lorry that got stranded across the road at Edat had caused the congestion.
At 12:45 pm, the mother and daughter rushed out of the car and ran for over a kilometre. Seeing them in distress, some passers-by sent the candidate on a scooter even as the mother ran behind it. When Nayana reached the school, it was 1.34 pm and the gates had been closed four minutes ago. The mother who reached close behind, collapsed on seeing her daughter in tears in front of the gates. At last, George, who arrived at the place in the car, consoled the daughter and took his wife to the hospital. Nayana lost the opportunity to write the exam after undergoing coaching for it for the past one year.
Two other cases
Elsewhere, two other candidates too couldn’t sit for the test. In the hall ticket of the two students – both female candidates belonging to Chengannur – the exam centre was marked as Government Girls School, Cherthala. However, this school was not an exam centre. These students approached two other centres which were nearest to this school, but their details were not available and they could not write the test.
This year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admissions to undergraduate medical courses in India took place at all scheduled centres, except Manipur, on May 7. In Kerala, 1.28 lakh students had registered for the test and 1.20 lakh of them attended.