Over a lakh students appeared for the State entrance examination for engineering and pharmacy courses (KEAM 2022) on Monday.
According to official statistics, as many as 1,02,066 higher education aspirants took the examination from 346 centres across the State and in New Delhi, Mumbai and Dubai. A total of 1,22,039 students had downloaded their hall tickets.
While all attendees appeared for paper 1 (Physics and Mathematics), 75,784 out of the 93,232 BPharm course applicants attempted the paper 2 (Mathematics) alone. Engineering aspirants are supposed to take both papers to qualify for admission.
Among the centres outside Kerala, the one in Dubai saw the highest attendance of 323 students. Those in New Delhi and Mumbai witnessed the participation of 227 and 134 students respectively.
K. Inbasekar, Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE), said the examination was held in a smooth manner with close coordination with various departments.
As had been the case during last year’s entrance examination, the authorities had enforced the COVID-19 protocol by screening candidates at the examination centres. While chief superintendents and liaison officers had been tasked with ensuring smooth arrangement of the examination in each venue, two teachers were entrusted with the enforcement of the COVID-19 measures. Separate classrooms were earmarked for COVID-19-affected candidates and those displaying various symptoms.
Rest areas had been readied close to school compounds for the benefit of guardians who dropped their wards off at the centres. The services of Student Police Cadets (SPC) were utilised in certain schools for crowd management.
Answer key published
The CEE has published the answer key for the examination on its website www.cee.kerala.gov.in. Candidates have been provided time until 5 p.m. on July 13 to submit complaints regarding the answer key.
Demand drafts issued in the name of the CEE must also be submitted through mail or directly. A fee of ₹100 will be charged for each question.