Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, Dec. 27: The Odisha Private Engineering College Association (Opeca) has requested the state government to ask the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to do away with Aadhaar card number as one of the mandatory conditions for filling JEE (Main) Examination 2017 application forms.
The online application process has started on December 1 and the last date for filing applications is January 2. The exam will be held on April 2.
"In Odisha there are several students who do not have an Aadhaar card," said Binod Dash, secretary of Opeca in a memorandum to chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
Opeca's plea comes after a marked decrease in the number of JEE (Main) 2017 applicants. "The number is really shocking. Last year by this time the number of applicants was around 50,000. However, till date around 22,000 students have applied," Dash said.
According to the CBSE notification, all Indian candidates should posses Aadhaar card at the time of filing application forms. In his November 24 memorandum to Naveen, the Opeca secretary sought the chief minister's intervention to extend the last date for filing applications by at least another 20 days.
Private schools, however, have been sensitising students about the mandatory requirement of new Aaadhaar card.
"Realising the importance of the Aadhaar card in future, we have asked all the students starting from LKG to Class XII to get their Aadhaar cards done," said Debendra Pati, a senior teacher at the DAV Public School, Chandrashekharpur.
However, for students it is easier said than done.
"My parents panicked as they thought it was impossible to get the card in such a short notice. The CBSE authorities later informed us about the special facilitation centres," said Amrit Panda, a JEE aspirant.
But not all are as lucky as Panda. "I work in Mumbai and had to take leave and rush to get this Aadhaar card done for my son. If this is the condition in a capital city, one can very well guess about the situation of students in rural areas," said Rajesh Mohapatra, a parent.
