Mita Mukherjee

The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) of the current year will be conducted on July 17 for admission to undergraduate courses in engineering, pharmacy and architecture in institutes across Bengal, the state joint entrance board announced on Wednesday.

The board had earlier announced that the exam would be held on July 11.

Malayendu Saha, chairman of West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board said there will be no change in time-table and venues. He added the examination has been postponed in view of the Covid-19 situation.

“Students’ safety is of utmost importance. We have decided to postpone the exam till July 17 considering the health and safety of students,” Saha said.   

The number of Covid cases was gradually decreasing in the state and it is expected the transport system will improve within mid-July. The board decided to hold the test six days later to ensure that students don’t face difficulties in reaching the examination venues.

The examination will be held in offline mode and students will face lesser problems in reaching the examination centres if more transport is available on the examination day. The test had been usually held on Sundays in previous years. But this time it will be conducted on a Saturday as fewer buses and metro trains ply on Sundays.

As many as 92,695 students will write the examination this year. Nearly 60 percent of the aspirants are from Bengal and the remaining 40 percent from other states in India. The examination will be conducted at 274 centres.

The results will be declared before August 14, the board chairman said. The counseling of students will be conducted in three phases and the process will be completed within September 15.

According to Saha, since the exams will be held in offline mode, the board will ensure that the test is conducted strictly maintaining the Covid-19 protocols.

In 2020, the test was held on February 20. This year, the entrance exams have been delayed because of the pandemic.

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