Not rational to scrap entire NEET examination: Centre to Supreme Court
In an affidavit to the Supreme Court, the Centre opposed eliminating the NEET-UG exam, claiming that doing so would jeopardize lakhs of honest candidates. The government stated that the interests of the great number of students who sat the exam without using unfair methods should not be jeopardised.
“In the absence of proof of any large-scale breach of confidentiality in a pan-India examination, it would not be rational to scrap the entire examination,” according to the declaration.
The NEET-UG 2024 examination for undergraduate medical programs, administered by the National Testing Agency (NTA), sparked outrage over accusations of question paper leaks in several states and the allocation of grace marks to 1,500 students, prompting significant protests. The grace marks were later revoked, and a retest was conducted.
Also read: Centre forms high-level committee led by ex-ISRO chief to monitor NTA functioning
In its affidavit, the Centre stated that the CBI was undertaking an extensive probe into the alleged anomalies and that it was dedicated to conducting the tests in a fair and transparent way.
Centre had formed high-level committee to monitor NTA operations
The education ministry had recently announced the formation of a high-level expert committee to ensure the NTA’s examinations are transparent, smooth, and fair. Dr. K Radhakrishnan, the former Isro chief, will lead the seven-member group.
The move came just days after NTA cancelled UGC-NET after its question paper was discovered to have been leaked on darknet. Apart from that, there have been reports of irregularities in NEET, raising controversy about the examination process.
The high-level committeeg has been tasked with recommending changes to the examination process, increasing data security standards, and improving the NTA’s structure and operation.
The committee has been asked to present its report within two months.
