Side-stepping NEET issues

The refusal to shift the entrance test to online mode is baffling, considering the crisis last year.

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After the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) fiasco last year, reforms recommended by a government-constituted expert panel offered redemption to the National Testing Agency (NTA). NTA's ability to conduct the test in a manner that engendered trust in the process had come under question last year. Allegations of question paper leaks, arbitrary awarding of grace marks, and inflated marking eroded stakeholders' trust in the exam process, as did NTA's response to the issues. First, the agency tied itself in knots trying to explain away the various discrepancies flagged in marking, and when none of this sailed, it had to take the retest route for a select number of candidates. Then, even as it flatly denied any leaks, probe agencies uncovered paper-leak/solving rackets that spanned multiple states.