More than 10,000 candidates today appeared in the pre-medical and pre-engineering Common Entrance Test in Kashmir Valley, which has been reeling under strike and protests in which 49 people have been killed.
Out of the 11,881 candidates, 10,803 appeared in the test conducted by the Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) at various centers in the Valley, said an official.
The BOPEE official said 16,315 aspirants out of the total of 17,937 appeared in the CET across the state.
There were 25 centres, including 17 in Srinagar, he said.
Eight centres were in Jammu, where 5,512 candidates appeared out of a total of 6,056, he said.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti visited a few of the centres in Srinagar and expressed satisfaction over the arrangements.
An official spokesman said the chief minister visited the centres at Women s College, M A Road, Amar Singh College, Girls Higher Secondary School Rajbagh and Burn Hall School.
The chief minister, however, had to retreat hastily from Women's College after angry parents protested against her visit.
She said that despite facing hardships because of the prevailing law and order situation, the government machinery ensured almost 91 per cent presence of students in the test.
She said the government machinery played a commendable role in facilitating the presence of a large number of students in NEET conducted last week and also hailed the commitment of parents, who helped their children make it to the examination centres.
The district authorities facilitated the movement of the candidates by providing them free transport facilities from the district headquarters to the examination centres here.
