NEET aspirants take part in a protest rally against the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 entrance exam results, in Kolkata, Monday, June 10, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET (UG), the entrance tests for medical, dental and other courses, is not new to controversies. This year also, several questions have been raised about it, and there is criticism of various aspects like the conduct of the exam and declaration of results. The National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts the exam, has appointed a committee to investigate the issues. Hundreds of students have complained about many problems. Some of them did not get the full time to complete the exam. There were technical glitches, wrong question papers and defective OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) sheets. There are charges of question paper leaks in some places. Though the results were expected to be released on June 14, they were released 10 days earlier. Some of the answer keys were found to be wrong and evaluation inconsistent.
These are other issues also. As many as 67 students got the perfect score of 720 on 720, which is unprecedented. Many of the toppers are from the same examination centre. Some students got 718 and 719, which is not possible under the NEET marking scheme. The NTA has said the high scores were due to a revision in an answer key and on account of compensatory marks given in some centres for loss of time. It also said that the scores between 716 and 720 were due to grace marks given on the orders of the Supreme Court and that many students scored high marks because the questions were easy to answer.
Some students have gone to court. The Supreme Court has observed that the sanctity of the test has been affected. It has issued notice to the NTA. Some students have staged public protests. There are demands for a CBI enquiry and a retest. NEET is the country’s biggest entrance exam with participation of over 23 lakh students in about 5,000 centres. There should not be so many questions and complaints about its conduct. An exam of the scale and importance of NEET needs to be most credible, and transparency and efficiency are needed for that. The committee is expected to submit its report in one week. It should throw light on all the problems and explain how they occurred. Mistakes made should be corrected. Those responsible for them should be held accountable, too. If proper planning is done and fool-proof measures taken, it should be possible to conduct the exam smoothly and without complaints. The problems that have arisen should be resolved and it must be ensured that similar issues do not arise in future.