HYDERABAD: On September 13, over 55,800 candidates from Telangana will write the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) at 112 test centres. Likewise, 67,319 JEE Main candidates will appear for exams at 27 test centres from September 1 to 6.

Each centre will have around 500 students which, according to the student associations, is unsafe. After National Testing Agency NTA and the Supreme Court made it clear that the exams would not be postponed any further, many students bodies such as Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), All India Students Association, and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) urged the State governments to come forward and support students and postpone the exams.

“Spike in number of Covid-19 cases over the past few days is alarming and a cause of apprehension among students and parents,’’ said SIO in a release. Some of the students, who are away from Hyderabad are worried about travelling back to Hyderabad. Particularly, students from Andhra Pradesh, who chose Hyderabad as their test centre, are scared as bus services between the Telugu States is yet to resume. “I will have to travel 420 km from AP to Telangana at a time when there is no public transport,” tweeted, Jeevan Reddy, a student from Anantapur who was studying in Hyderabad.

Nonetheless, students who have prepared for the exams want the exams to get over as early as possible. “I took longterm coaching for the second time. I don’t want to spend another year preparing for the entrance exam,” said a NEET applicant from Hyderabad.

Dr Sanjeev Singh Yadav, secretary, Indian Medical Association (IMA) Telangana said, “Only a few non-clinical subjects can be taught online. Medical colleges cannot rely on online education.  Exams can be postponed if there is a real threat, however, people are moving around as if everything were normal, so it should not be a big issue.”