PATNA: More than one lakh students have already applied for the state-level combined entrance test for BEd admissions even as Wednesday is the last day for submission of application forms. The entrance test will be conducted on March 10 Nodal officer and Nalanda Open University’s (NOU) registrar (examinations) S P Sinha told the newspaper, “Candidates can make corrections in their application forms from February 21 to 25. They can also indicate the choice of institutions in order of preference from March 2 to 18. Results of the test will be published on March 20.”Students can opt for all the 340 teachers’ training colleges where admissions to the BEd course are to be made. The total number of seats in these colleges is 34,400.“There will be no change in the dates of entrance test and publication of results. Some minority institutions had approached the Supreme Court for granting stay on the conduct of BEd entrance test , but the apex court refused to provide them any interim relief. Directing NOU to carry on with its original schedule, it asked the minority institutions to complete all the formalities needed for admitting students to the BEd course through the combined entrance test. The apex court will deliver final judgement in this case on March 6,” Sinha said.Even as the final list of test centres has not been prepared so far, it is expected that there will be at least 150 centres in 10 districts, including Patna Saharsa , Muzaffarpur, Chhapra Darbhanga , Munger, Purnia, Bhagalpur and Ara. The final list will be announced within the next two to three days.A meeting of the divisional commissioners will be held at the Raj Bhavan in the first week of March to discuss ways and means for ensuring peaceful and fair conduct of the entrance test. Adequate number of observers, magistrates and invigilators will be posted at each centre and the examinees allowed to enter the exam hall without shoes. While boys will be asked to wear half shirts and pants, girls will have to report in half kurta and salwar. All the examinees will mark their presence through biometric attendance at the centre. Jammers will also be installed at all the centres for making cellphones dysfunctional.The state-level combined entrance test for admission to the two-year BEd course in all the training colleges, including affiliated ones, was held on July 15 last year at the instance of the then governor-cum-chancellor Satya Pal Malik with a view to ending malpractices and streamlining teacher education in the state. Since NOU had conducted the test successfully, it was entrusted again with the task of conducting the test this year.

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