Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 31: A total of 16, 315 MBBS and BDS aspirants appeared in Common Entrance Test (CET) examination conducted by the Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) in 25 centres of Srinagar and Jammu today. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti herself visited the exam centres and interacted with staff and aspirants.
BOPEE chairman, Ghulam Hassan Tantray, told Excelsior that out of 17937 candidates, 16315 aspirants appeared in the examination in both Srinagar and Jammu centres. “There were 25 examination centres and out of which 17 were in Srinagar and 8 in Jammu and 1622 candidates didn’t appear,” he said.
The BOPEE chairman said despite curfew and shutdown in Kashmir, 91 percent aspirants appeared in the CET examination in Srinagar centres. “Out of 11881 candidates of Kashmir, 10803 remained present while 1078 were absent,” he said, adding there was no untoward incident in any centre and the exam was conducted smoothly.
“The Government had made all the arrangements for the convenience of the candidates. We had made available transport facilities and the exam slips were treated as curfew pass. We didn’t receive any complaint and everything passed off peacefully,” said Tantray.
In Jammu, the winter capital of State, a total of 5512 aspirants appeared in the CET examination. “We had seven centres in Jammu and there were a total of 6056 candidates but 544 remained absent. However, the examination there also passed off peacefully,” said the BOPEE chairman.
In wake of the unrest in Kashmir region, Tantray said, they were not expecting such attendance of the aspirants. “This was beyond our expectation,” he said. “In the final hours, we changed some exam centres and it was because of print and electronic media that we were able to convey the message,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti visited the examination Centres at Women’s College at Maulana Azad Road, Amar Singh College at Gogji Bagh, Girls Higher Secondary School Rajbagh and Burn Hall School in Sonwar. She was flanked by senior officials including Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Khan and Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Dr Farooq Lone.
The Chief Minister took stock of the arrangements that were in place for the smooth conduct of the CET examination. She directed the concerned officials to provide all the facilities to the aspirants. The Chief Minister on the occasion also interacted with some of the parents of the aspirants.
Expressing satisfaction over the arrangements made by the respective District Development Commissioners, BOPEE and the Education Department for facilitating the students to appear in the test, the Chief Minister said that despite facing various hardships because of the prevailing law and order situation, the government machinery ensured almost 91% presence of students in the CET.
She said “the Government machinery played a commendable role in facilitating the presence of a large number of students in NEET conducted last week”. She also hailed the commitment of the parents, who helped their wards to make it to the examination centres.
Calling for introspection, the Chief Minister said that the people have to ponder over how the educational, economic and social structure of Kashmir is being systematically ruined because of the prevailing situation.
“Our enterprising young boys and girls are not able to apply for KAS examination, they are not able to avail of the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme, the educational and training institutions are shut, the tourism sector has taken a big hit, the development process has come to a standstill and the socio-economic condition of the people is deteriorating day by day because of the prevailing law and order situation,” she said and added there are instances in the history where various nations and communities including the Palestinians didn’t allow the education of their children to suffer amid conflicts and wars.
“Ironically, in contrast, the first casualty of unrest in Kashmir has always been the education and the economy,” she said.
Mehbooba said instead of asking the Kashmiri youth to focus on education, they are being incited to take stones in their hands and attack whosoever comes their way. “A 70-year old poor street vendor who moves out of his home in the morning to earn the bread and butter for his starving family is being slapped by a 10-year old boy, young girls are being threatened that they will be torched alive alongwith their scooties if they move out of their home, people wearing decent clothes are being intimidated, respectable citizens are being humiliated and unsuspecting travelers are being pillaged in the name of protests,” the Chief Minister said and added that such hideous activities are not only unacceptable but unbecoming of a civilized society.
Mehbooba said many forces have joined hands to vitiate the atmosphere and send innocent children to various localities to create trouble. “Those who have other ideology should also feel the pain of the younger generation getting affected. What do they want to achieve by this (violence)?”, she asked.
Reiterating that the issues can be resolved only through dialogue and not violence, the Chief Minister said violence has been rejected globally as a means to achieve political objectives. “The proponents of violent protests in Kashmir must also engage in dialogue to resolve the issues instead of perpetuating violence which has only brought death and destruction on their own people,” she said and added that Kashmir has already lost a generation of youth to the violence and can’t afford to bear with this tragic human loss for ever. She said everyone should “feel the pain” of the future generation.
She said there was an “issue in the minds” of the people and it needs to be addressed. “While the security forces have been able to contain the situation but there was an issue in the minds of the people which needs to be addressed. We brought in security forces and they contained the situation. But there is an issue which is in the minds. It has to be addressed,” she added.
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