Sanctity loss of NEET exam; future of lakhs of students should not be compromised for National Examination Agency

This year's NEET examination for medical admission has exposed the failure of the examination management system. Even when 67 students got the first rank with full marks, students and parents raised doubts and complained, the National Examination Agency (NTA), which is in charge of conducting the examination, was giving answers that increased doubts. NTA Chairman said in a press conference in Delhi that so many people were able to score full marks and high marks because the exam was easy this time and grace marks were given for asking a question from physics which was not included in the syllabus. Initially, the Union Education Minister also took the same stand.

However, when the complaints about this came before the Supreme Court and they were forced to answer the court's questions, the examiners admitted for the first time that there was a mistake in giving grace marks. At the same time, they maintained that the question paper was not leaked. Therefore, the court ordered that there is no need to cancel the examination and to conduct a retest for around 1500 students to rectify the lapse in giving grace marks. Following this, Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan revealed that there were irregularities in six exam centres out of the 4500. The minister added that strict action will be taken against whoever committed the crime. During the hearing of the case related to this, the Supreme Court observed that the sanctity of the NEET examination was compromised.

Some reports in the media point out that the question paper leak happened in Bihar and Gujarat. Bihar Police was the first to reveal that the question paper was leaked. According to the reports, 35 people had received the question paper and answer key before the exam. The Finance Wing of the Bihar Police arrested 13 people and recovered six checks believed to have been issued to the masterminds. In Gujarat, six members of the gang who helped candidates get high marks were arrested. It is reported that among those arrested are some of the teachers of the coaching centre. The police have found that the students who appeared for the exam wrote only the answers they knew and the rest were filled in by the teachers of the coaching centre.

The police also said that the students paid up to Rs 30 lakh per question paper to the cheating gang. Reports emerging now point to similar scams in UP and Maharashtra. Yesterday, the Supreme Court directed the examination agency to admit the mistake and correct it. If the mistake is admitted, everyone at the head of the examination agency will have to be changed. They are trying to avoid this. This should not be allowed by the central government under any circumstances. The future of lakhs of students is bigger than the future of a few people at the head of the agency. This time 24 lakh students appeared for the 1,10,000 seats. If the coaching centres have any role in question paper leak then it should also come out. If the leakage of the question paper is widespread, it is best to reconduct the exam. Let's wait for the Supreme Court's final order in this regard.