NBE Faces Challenges to Hold NEET PG 2025 in Single Shift

New Delhi: The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) will have to hold the upcoming National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2025 examination in a single shift to comply with the Supreme Court's directions.

For this, the board will have to arrange around 900 extra exam centres before June 15, the scheduled date for the NEET PG 2025 examination. This has resulted in significant logistical challenges for the NBEMS, which is now seeking help from a third party like the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to expand the number of exam centres.

NBEMS will have to ensure that these additional centres have upgraded security measures to prevent any form of malpractice in the exam. 

Also Read: NEET PG 2025: Two Shifts Will Lead to arbitrariness, Arrange Single-shift exam- SC tells NBE

Confirming this, a NBEMS source informed Education Times on the condition of anonymity, "The board is currently in discussions with the third party — Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) — to expand the number of exam centres. Conducting the NEET PG in a single shift will require additional centres, as well as upgraded security measures, including signal jammers and surveillance systems to prevent cheating."

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the doctors and medical aspirants had been opposing the NBE's earlier decision of holding the exam in two shifts, citing concerns regarding transparency in the examination. Doctors had also expressed their doubts regarding the normalisation process, which NBE introduced in the NEET PG 2024 exam.

Addressing the concerns raised by the NEET PG candidates regarding the normalisation process, a senior faculty member from a medical college told Education Times, "The board has earlier acknowledged that while the normalisation formula is meant to level the playing field, it is inherently artificial and cannot guarantee absolute fairness. However, the board only introduced the dual-shift exam model last year to prevent the probability of malpractices, considering what happened during the NEET UG exam in 2024. Given the limited number of exam centres, the board’s focus was to hold the exam in a controlled environment with proper security measures in place."

Challenging the NBE's decision to hold NEET PG 2025 in double shifts, the doctors had approached the Apex Court bench, which recently held that holding the exam in two shifts would lead to arbitrariness as the difficulty level of the two question papers could never be identical. Dismissing NBE's concerns regarding the lack of adequate exam centres, the top court bench directed NBEMS to make arrangements to hold the exam in a single shift. In fact, the court had also allowed NBE to postpone the exam date beyond June 15 if the board failed to arrange an adequate number of exam centres within time.

This has fueled speculations about a possible postponement of the NEET PG exam date. Addressing this, the senior faculty told ET, "There are chances of the exam getting delayed due to the logistical scale-up.” Moreover, SC has also clarified that NBEMS may request an extension if required." However, the students have been advised not to rely on the possibility of a delay and continue their preparations as scheduled.

Also Read: NEET PG 2025 Single Shift- a 'Win for Fairness, Transparency'! Doctors Hail Supreme Court Ruling