Thiruvananthapuram: Barring a few complaints from girls students who were asked to shorten their long-sleeved clothes, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was held at various centres across Kerala on Sunday, without any major glitches.
However, tragedy struck a Tamil Nadu student, who appeared for the exam at a centre in Ernakulam district, as his father died of heart attack on Sunday morning. In a Facebook post, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed grief over the death of 46-year-old Krishnasamy Sreenivasan, father of Kasturi Mahalingam, hailing from Thiruvarur in Tamil Nadu.
Father who accompanied son from TN to Kochi for NEET dies
He also said arrangements would be made to transport the body of Sreenivasan to his home town.
According to officials, nearly one 1.20 lakh candidates, including many from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, appeared for the examination in 39 centres in 10 districts amid tight security.
Despite the elaborate guidelines given by the CBSE, the NEET has not been glitch-free.
Click here to read the guideline.
Diktat over dress
Several candidates appeared in clothes that were banned by the CBSE. Two girl candidates who were assigned the Devagiri CMI Public School at Kozhikode had to cut off their long sleeves as the length violated the prescription by the CBSE.
The exam organising body had prescribed in its guidelines that the candidates must not wear full sleeves.
A few other students who appeared at the exam centre in long-sleeved clothes managed to cut the sleeves before entering the exam centres.
At Manjeri in Malappuram, students had to rush to a building annexe 3 km away as the address in the admit card was wrong.
The admit card bore the address of the main school building while the exam centre was the secondary school building 3 km away.
However, many students and parents told local television channels that prior information about the dress code given by the CBSE had helped them avoid confusion in this regard.
'Physics was tough'
Students also said the physics paper was a bit tough, while biology and chemistry papers were comparatively easier.
The Kerala government had made elaborate arrangements to help students writing the examination by setting up help desks at railway stations and bus terminus.
The state had arranged special KSRTC services to facilitate the smooth conduct of the examination (Click here to know more).
On arrangements made by the state government, Pinarayi said the help-desks were of great relief to parents and students.
Last year, the test was mired in controversy after a girl candidate from Kannur district alleged that she was forced to remove her innerwear, while some others had to shorten sleeves and cut the pockets of their jeans to meet the prescribed dress code.