Students who have enrolled for the National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) scheduled for July 11 may find it difficult to reach the examination centres in view of the weekend lockdown being enforced in the State to contain COVID-19.
The NATA is a national-level undergraduate test conducted by the Council of Architecture (COA) for admission to five-year BArch and B Planning programmes. In Kerala, around 25,000 students are scheduled to write the examination at 20 centres.
Some of the students from north Kerala told The Hindu on Thursday that those without private vehicles might not be able to travel. They said national functionaries of the COA did not positively respond to their concerns.
“There are two round of tests every year. Last year, the first test was cancelled owing to the pandemic and the second one was held online. We wonder why they are insisting on physical tests this year,” a student said.
Meanwhile, a representative of the council said that being a national test, students from one State could not be given an exception. “Students from other States have no issues because such lockdown restrictions are not in place there. We can’t have a separate system for Kerala. Normally, these tests are held on Saturdays. But this year, it happened to be on a Sunday because it was convenient on many counts,” he added.
