JKPM Vice President Syed Iqbal Tahir called on Vineet Joshi, Director-General National Testing Agency (NTA) at his office in Noida, UP.
On the occassion, Tahir apprised the NTA officials aboutinconvenience caused to Kashmir andLadakh based aspirants of JEE, UGC -NET,NEET, CMAT, GMAT,AIAGPT and othercompetitive exams conducted by the NTA due to allocation of examination centres to them outside theKashmir and Ladakh.
JKPM spokesperson in a statement said Tahir informed NTAthat the key objectives of NTA was to improve quality in education by administering efficient, transparent, fair andinternational level assessments. “NTA should provide a congenial and convenient examination set-up for holding ofvarious competitive examinations. Unfortunately, it has been noticed that asfar as Kashmir/Ladakh based aspirants are concerned, the NTA is repeatedlyresorting to unfriendly ways and means which cause them great inconvenience,” Tahir informed the D GNTA.
Tahir said setting upof exam centres outside Kashmir and Ladakh causes huge inconvenience to theaspirants in view of the dilapidated and unpredictable condition of theJammu-Srinagar National highway and extreme hot weather conditions outside JK.
“Exam centres for various competitive tests were alwaysbased in Srinagar even before the NTA came into existence. Sky-rocketing airfares and travelling to exam centresoutsides Kashmir/Ladakh involves hugeexpenses which is unbearable for most of the aspirants from Kashmir/Ladakh.” Tahir said.
Tahir requested theDG to redress grievance of aspiring candidates by setting up of adequate numberof exam centres in Kashmir and Ladakh on a permanent basis.
“The Director General assured JKPM Vice President thattheir demand would be looked into sympathetically at the earliest,” thestatement added.