Many of the students looking to take Session 2 of the Joint Entrance Examination Main in West Asian countries are faced with uncertainty after the test authorities named only Kuwait City and Dubai as possible venues amid the conflict in the region.
Session 2 of the JEE Main — a second round for candidates who have missed the first round (Session I) or want to improve their results — is to be conducted between April 2 and 8 in India and elsewhere.
CPM Rajya Sabha member John Brittas on Wednesday wrote to education minister Dharmendra Pradhan about the anxiety being felt by Indian students based in West Asia (apart from those in Dubai and Kuwait) and sought measures to help them take the exam.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the JEE Main, held Session I in January at 658 centres in 326 cities, including 15 foreign cities.
In West Asia, the exam was held in Manama (Bahrain), Doha (Qatar), Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi (all UAE), Muscat (Oman), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), and Kuwait City (Kuwait).
Session 2, too, was expected to be held in all these cities and centres — but war intervened.
On Thursday, the NTA released “city intimation slips” – which provide advance information about thecities where the exam would be held --- that named only Kuwait and Dubai among West Asian venues.
In an advisory on its website, the agency said it was in touch with the Indian embassy in Bahrain for the candidates registered there.
“For any change of examination cities for JEE (Main) 2026 Session 2, candidates may contact 011-40759000 or write an email to jeemain@nta.ac.in. The candidates are advised to visit the official websites of NTA (www.nta.ac.in) and (https://jeemain.nta.nic.in/) for the latest updates,” the advisory said.
While applying, candidates can select up to four cities where they want to take the exam. But sometimes, administrative reasons can force the authorities to allot some candidates a city different from those they chose, an information bulletin issued by the NTA during the application process said.
“…Students who had opted for Manama (Bahrain) as their examination city for JEE Main 2026 (Session 2) have now been informed through their city intimation slips that the said centre is presently not available, with candidates being required to modify their choice of examination city, in several instances to locations in India,” Brittas wrote to Pradhan.
“This development has caused considerable anxiety among students and parents, particularly in the context of the prevailing conflict situation in the Middle East. Travelling at short notice to distant examination centres involve substantial financial costs, logistical uncertainty, and safety concerns.”
He sought Pradhan’s “urgent personal intervention in issuing directions to the authorities concerned to immediately examine the feasibility of restoring Bahrain as an examination centre, or… to facilitate access to safe and proximate centres within the Gulf region”.
This newspaper has sent an email to NTA director-general Pradeep Singh Kharola asking whether the exam might be held in Manama, Doha, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat or Riyadh and, if not, whether alternative arrangements would be made for the candidates from these places. His response is awaited.
