NDA, Naval Academy exams held in Odisha amid pandemic

Bhubaneswar/Sambalpur: National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination (I) and (II)-2020 were conducted at 23 examination centres in two cities (Cuttack and Sambalpur) of the state on Sunday. While Cuttack got the highest 19 examination centres, examination was conducted at four centres in Sambalpur.
A total number of 9,165 candidates (7788 from Cuttack) had registered for the examinations in 23 centres in the two cities.Sources said around 6,000 candidates have appeared the examination in Cuttack, while 637 out of 1377 students have appeared in four examination centres in Sambalpur.
Cuttack and Sambalpur district administrations have provided help to these institutions to conduct examinations smoothly. The East Coast Railway (ECoR) provided special train services for transportation of these candidates. Six examination special trains were run by the ECoR in Odisha to facilitate the candidates appearing these tests.
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These trains had originated at 5pm from Berhampur, Angul, Keonjhargarh, Paradip, Rourkela and Kantabanji to Cuttack and Sambalpur. It's return trains were started from the examination cities to the originating stations on Sunday evening.
In Sambalpur, 160 aspirants have appeared in the entrance test at Government Women’s College, 160 aspirants appeared at Dr Parsuram Mishra Institute of Advanced Studies in Education, 187 students appeared at CSB Zilla School and 130 students appeared in Kendriya Vidyalaya in Sambalpur.
The invigilators of the examination were provided with santiser, masks and gloves. Moreover, the aspirants, who had come from far flung areas, were also provided with sanitiser before their entry into the examination hall. The students were also being asked to maintain social distancing during the examination.
An aspirant, Ankit Pradhan from Purunakatak in Boudh district said, "I came here to appear in the examination with my father and reached the examination centre without any delay. Because of the pandemic, I was skeptical about the examination. But the examination is conducted in a well manner," he added.
He said that all the Covid-19 guidelines were followed during the entrance examination in the center. Ankit appeared for the entrance examination at the Government Women’s College, Sambalpur.