NEET Controversy: This Test Is Only Getting Uglier

NEET popped up issues this time too. Is the exam proving to be a disaster than failure?

- Arushi Bedi

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) has been rife with controversies since it was introduced two years ago. This time, too, controversies cropped up after a strictly-enforced dress code led many to either miss the exam or start late in the hall. Sources in the health ministry have indicated that the medical entrance exam, like it happened last year, may be held again. In 2016, a Supreme Court order forced NEET authorities to hold the exam for a second time—on July 24. The controversies this year prompted some students to move court. They filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court, which has sought the Union health minister’s views on conducting the NEET exam once again this year.

In any case, there are more problems to NEET this time—following rumours of exam papers being leaked in Bihar. More importantly, many students allege exam papers in regional langua­ges, mainly Gujarati and Bengali, were more difficult than those in English and Hindi. Such irregularities with the question paper have students question­ ing the validity and uniformity of the NEET, the main purpose of which was to provide a uniform playing field to all those applying for admission.

Formulated in 2015, NEET was envisioned to be a one­point entrance exam for admission to MBBS and BDS courses, on the lines of the JEE con­ ducted for engineering courses in both public and private colleges. This year, the test conducted by the government on the May 7 saw students, ahead of the exam, being frisked, asked to remove shoes and clothes in non­conformance to the advisory issued by the CBSE on its website. In an incident in Kerala, some invigilators asked girl students to remove undergarments to ensure the strict anti­cheating guidelines.