NEET 2024 Aspirants Submit Memorandum to Education Ministry Seeking Investigation in Paper Leak, Result Irregularities Issue
New Delhi: Raising the issue of the alleged paper leak in the NEET UG 2024 exams and irregularities in the results, student representatives have submitted a memorandum before the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan demanding proper investigation into this issue.
The memorandum was submitted by student representatives Sagar, Rishabh Kumar and Sonal Chaudhary. They mentioned in the memorandum, "We are submitting this representation hereby on the behalf of all NEET UG Aspirants to draw the attention of concerned authorities towards the issue of NEET UG Aspirants."
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the results of NEET-UG 2024 shocked many, as 67 candidates secured the All India Rank 1 in the examination. Moreover, soon after the reports of a large number of students securing full marks i.e. 720 marks in the exam came to light, the allegations of the NEET paper leak scam started circulating on the social media platforms.
Several X (formerly Twitter) users including doctors and health activists also referred to the NEET marking pattern and questioned how some candidates secured 718 or 719 marks in the exam. Some of the social media users including doctors and activists also questioned how altogether 8 students from the same centre secured 720 marks in the examination.
Amid all these allegations, NTA, the authority in charge of conducting the NEET exam has clarified that candidates can score 718 or 719 marks this year because they were awarded grace marks.
Raising the issue, the student representatives submitted a letter to the Union Education Minister today. In their letter, they referred to the The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024 which was reportedly passed by the Lok Sabha on May 4, 2024.
They also referred to the alleged paper leak in the NEET UG 2024 exam and mentioned that the "the Reports of the NEET UG 2024 question paper leak emerged soon after the exam was conducted on May 5, 2024."
Further, the students referred to the development of the paper leak case in Bihar including the arrest of 13 individuals, the public interest litigation filed in Patna High Court demanding that Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) investigate the paper leak and cancellation of the exam.
"The PIL claims that the leak has caused significant unrest among students and families, who invested considerable effort and resources in preparing for the exam," the students mentioned in the letter. They also referred to the decision of the Supreme Court, which declined to stay the release of NEET UG 2024 results.
"The NTA, responsible for conducting the NEET exam, has refuted claims of the paper leak, stating that the exam was conducted successfully and that the reports of the leak are baseless. They have, however, acknowledged isolated incidents of malpractice at specific centers, which are being investigated," the students mentioned in the letter.
Referring to the NEET results, the students highlighted how a large number of students scored full marks in the exam and many NEET toppers were from the same center. They pointed out that while last year students scoring 650 secured admission in top colleges, this year, such students might not even get admission. They claimed that this is due to the paper leak, which resulted in such an abnormal cut-off.
Addressing the clarification issued by the National Testing Agency (NTA) which stated that it awarded grace marks to students to compensate for loss of time, the students pointed out that there was no mention of anything like grace marks in the guidelines of NTA for NEET UG.
The students mentioned that while it could not be ascertained how much cheating was done in the exam, from the results, it was evident that there were massive cheating and paper leak in the exam. They also pointed out that 6 students from Jhajjar centre in Haryana scored 720 marks, which seems "impractical". Referring to the NTA clarification of grace marks responsible for students securing 718/719 number, they questioned why other students were not given grace marks.
Finally, addressing the abnormal cut-off, the students requested the government to thoroughly investigate the alleged paper leak case and the basis of grace marks given to some of the students. They also urged the authorities to take appropriate measures based on the investigations.
NTA released the NEET scorecard on Tuesday i.e. on June 4, 2024. A record 24.06 lakh candidates had registered for NEET this year. The passing percentage is almost the same as last year at 56.2 percent.
Meanwhile, amid the social media uproar questioning the NEET UG 2024 results and the National Testing Agency's clarification that candidates were awarded grace marks, a Right to Information (RTI) application has been filed in this regard seeking further clarity from NTA.
Filing the RTI today, activist Dr. Vivek Pandey sought to know the details of the total number of students who received grace marks from NTA, and the details of the rules and criteria applied to allocate grace marks to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 aspirants.
Further, he also sought to know from NTA about the details of the students who applied for grace marks in the NEET 2024 exam, along with the details of the case filed against NTA demanding grace marks.
NEET Paper Leak Scam:
This year's NEET UG 2024 exam was mired in controversies after a paper leak scam was revealed in Bihar. Around 13 people, including four examinees and their family members were arrested in Bihar for their alleged involvement in the paper leak of NEET-UG exam. Patna police sources had previously claimed that the NEET-UG question papers along with their answers were provided to around 20 aspirants a day before the date of the exam i.e. May 5, 2024.
Then, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which took over the investigation, revealed that the brokers involved in the NEET paper leak scam took between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh from each of the medical aspirants in exchange of giving them the question paper of the NEET UG 2024 question paper ahead of the examination.
A PIL had also been filed before the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the exam results. While the Apex Court refused to grant a stay on the exam results, it agreed to consider the matter and issue notice on the PIL seeking re-conduction of the NEET UG exams in light of the alleged malpractices and paper leak scam.
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