The dirt on NEET

Uproar over NEET UG results points to systemic issues in the National Testing Agency

- MOHIT SHARMA

THE RESULTS OF THE 2024

National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for undergraduates (NEET UG), which were announced on June 4, seem to be raising more questions than answers with each passing day.

The alleged discrepancies in the results, and the subsequent countrywide protests, have snowballed into Modi 3.0's first full-fledged controversy. Within a week, the Union government changed its stance from "all is well" with the National Testing Agency, the premier body at the centre of the controversy, to "a lot of improvement is required in the NTA"

The government has been under pressure from raging protests, allegations of paper leaks, NEET-related arrests in states and opposition attacks. The Supreme Court is also seeking answers from the NTA, saying the "sanctity of the exam had been affected"

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, one of the few in the new cabinet who have retained their ministerial portfolios in the past cabinet, is having a tough time defending the NTA. Established in 2017, the NTA conducts a range of national-level exams for admission to engineering, medicine, management, pharmacy and other higher education courses. Experts say that ever since the NTA became operational in September 2018, instances of mismanagement, technical errors and allegations of irregularities have been on the rise.

"Last year, the demand to re-conduct JEE (joint entrance exam) trended on social media, but nothing happened. In 2017, there was a major leak in SSC (Staff Selection Commission) exams. This year, the cutoff for NEET UG has gone up abruptly, indicating anomalies. The situation has worsened in the past few years," said Keshav Aggarwal, president, the NGO Educators Society.