OJEE 2020: Nine new exam centres added in and out of Odisha; candidates can request change before 16 August at ojee.nic.in

The Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) committee has added nine new exam centres within and outside the state to conduct OJEE 2020 online. The new centres have been added keeping in view the current situation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the notification, six new places are in Odisha, while the remaining three are outside the state along with the existing places. In Odisha, the new exam centres will be in Balangir, Paralakhemundi (Gajapati), Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Phulbani (Kandhamal). The new centres outside the state are in Patna (Bihar), Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Kolkata (West Bengal). Candidates, who have successfully completed their application, are now allowed to make changes in the preference of cities in their already submitted forms. They will have to visit the OJEE application portal website to change the exam centre as per their convenience. The window to change the exam centre will be open from 5 pm on 13 August to 16 August 11:59 pm. A report  in The Times of India said that with the addition of new exam centres, OJEE will now be conducted in 21 places in Odisha. The report quoted OJEE chairman SK Chand saying that no OJEE centres were opened outside the state since 2014. A report in Careers 360 said that previously 5 new cities were added in the existing OJEE exam centres in order to abide by the social distancing guidelines issued by the government. The dates for OJEE 2020 have not been announced yet. The entrance examination is conducted for admissions into various undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Odisha. As per  Times Now, the exam was earlier scheduled to be held between 2 and 5 May but was cancelled due to the rise in COVID-19 cases. This year the Joint Entrance Examination Cell Odisha will be conducting the special entrance exam for B.Tech admission. Candidates who clear the entrance exam would be eligible for admission in state government or private colleges in Odisha.