The exam was originally scheduled to be held on May 3, but was canceled due to widespread question paper leaks.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) was a relief for the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Education Ministry after it was concluded smoothly on Sunday. The exam, which is conducted for admission to undergraduate medical courses like MBBS, BDS and AYUSH (BAMS, BHMS and BUMS etc.), has been re-conducted. It was earlier scheduled on May 3 but was cancelled due to widespread question paper leaks.
Normally, NTA takes four to six months to organize such an examination. But to clean up the lapses during the May 3 examination and to enable the candidates to start the new academic year on time, NTA made the re-examination possible within just 37 days. The security arrangements made to make this exercise foolproof were unprecedented. These must have caused unnecessary inconvenience to the candidates or their parents/guardians, yet due to adequate relief arrangements at every examination centre, NTA or the administrative authorities did not have to deal with the difficult situation.
However, after all this, it is not impossible to ask whether the NTA will be able to make such arrangements for every subsequent national entrance examination? Similarly, will it be possible for the Ministry of Education to bear the immense cost of every such exercise? Will arrangements like the use of Indian Air Force aircraft to deliver question papers, deployment of companies of state police forces in addition to central forces like CRPF and CISF, ban on messaging apps like Telegram for several days across the country, constant monitoring of other apps by various cyber agencies, use of jammers inside and around every examination centre, etc. be possible year after year? The NTA will also have to answer all such questions, as will the Ministry of Education. Who will pay the compensation for the mental pain and suffering that the children and their parents aged between 17 and 20 years had to go through for 37 days, and how will they pay it? To escape such suffering, 13 children chose suicide during the 37 days. How will the government share the pain of their parents?
It is true that the administrators have to take extraordinary steps to cope with the challenges associated with nationwide examinations like NEET. It is also a valid argument that when the number of examinees is in the millions, some lapse or oversight cannot be prevented somewhere or the other. But can such examinations or admission processes not be made easier in terms of arrangements and regional requirements? Examinations like NEET-UG or JEE are not focused on school education but are focused on coaching centres.
In these, the importance of schooling or marks obtained from the boards is not lost. However, 'NEET-UG' is mainly based on the syllabus of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). It has rejected the education patterns and limitations of the state education boards from its curriculum. Is this practice justified in itself? NTA should seriously consider such questions and suggestions. The previous DMK government of Tamil Nadu had threatened to separate admissions to state medical colleges from 'NEET-UG'. NTA's procedures may give rise to similar steps by other states as well.
