T’puram: Over 95,000 candidates appeared for the Kerala engineering entrance examination held from April 17 to 22. As many as 95,016 candidates appeared for the computer-based test. For the BPharm entrance test, 30,970 candidates appeared. There were 152 exam centres in Kerala alone. Apart from other Indian cities, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru, centres were open in Sharjah, Bahrain and Kuwait. As many as 1,684 candidates appeared for the computer-based test in non-Kerala centres. The conduct of the test in the Middle East was a daunting task for the office of the entrance commissioner, considering the tense geopolitical situation over there. Since schools in Dubai were closed, candidates who opted for that country were given opportunity to appear for the exam in a new centre set up in Sharjah. Similarly, students in Kuwait and Bahrain were provided opportunity to appear for the test in those countries by setting up additional exam centres. Service of Indian embassies in the four foreign countries was made available for the conduct of the tests in the Gulf region. C-DIT, which developed the entrance software, provided technical assistance and training to those who managed the exam centres. The entrance exam migrated to computer-based test in 2024, along the lines of JEE. The number of candidates who appeared for the test was up by 8,086 this time, compared to last year. The authorities said maximum candidates were allotted exam venues in their home district. However, there were difficulties in districts like Kozhikode for finding out enough number of venues. To overcome this difficulty, temporary centres were set up with the help of KELTRON in IHRD colleges and some schools. Universities and technical education department helped for the conduct of the test by rearranging their exam schedules.
