NEET is no longer Neat
Bihar Police arrested 7 accused in the NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate) paper leak case since Problem Solver Gang charged Rs 3.2 millions for leaking the exam papers.
Godhra has been in the news since Gujarat Police arrested 5 accused including the teacher and principal of Jay Jalaram School in connection with organised cheating in the medical entrance exam held on 5th May. In last 10 years of good days at least 70 such cases are reported.
Today nothing is neat in NEET exam. The notorious centres of examination and coaching institutes have been flourishing like the mafia racket. It’s impossible without the involvement of the bureaucrats and politicians.
As such the Pandora's box opened to remind the notorious Vyapam scam (1990-2013) that rocked the government of Madhya Pradesh. The vacation bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti has been hearing a plethora of petitions dealing with compromised integrity of the National Testing Agency (NTA). The victims of the NEET scam also approached the high court in the state of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Maharashtra, etc. The apex court stayed petitions filed in these high courts.
Arbitrary grace mark is yet another serious issue in the NEET result. The Supreme Court addressed it and said even a little negligence should be thoroughly dealt with. As such the NEET 2024 exam will be re-conducted on June 23 for 1,563 candidates, who were given grace marks due to the loss of time at the exam centres. The vacation bench of the apex court further allowed the counseling of the students, and dismissed the prayers for cancellation and re-examination.
Almost a month after the exam, on 4th June, its results came with an astounding 67 toppers attaining the perfect score of 720 out of 720 marks. The timing of the NEET result and that of the general elections raised serious question.
This result was a surprising piece of information, when the ruling alliance was expecting at least 400 seats out of 543 Lok Sabha seats. The investigating agencies in the state of Gujarat and Bihar asked the NTA to supply them the original question paper that they initially tried hard to deny. These coincidences created furore among 2.4 million students taking part in the entrance exam.
Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister dismissed the allegations of paper leak in the NEET and said there was no evidence to back these claims. But the union minister failed to hide it beneath the carpet that reflected after a few days when he accepted the leak before forming the high level committee which will look into the cases and functioning of the NTA.
Meanwhile the UGC-NET (University Grants Commission–National Eligibility Test) examination paper was also leaked on the dark net leading to its cancellation, and the NTA postponed the CSIR (Counsil of Scientific Research) NET exam that was scheduled during 25 to 27 June.
Compromised integrity of the testing agency hurts hardworking and honest students more than others. It has been destroying the medical and healthcare system like a termite that eats from within. The destruction of integrity of education system hurts the nation more than a terror attack, but still the culprits of such crimes were never treated like a traitor or a terrorist. The proponents of Ram Raj seems to defend the offenders on the cost of millions of students as if the political leadership is duty bound to protect the executive.
The opposition parties in association with the student unions are agitating on the streets demanding the strict penal action against the culprits of the scam. The outcome of building pressure on government is apparent, but the spirit of the union government boasts of the surgical strike in case of national security and employing its agencies like the ED and CBI in cases of corruption by the opposition party leaders is nowhere to be seen.
Almost 6 years ago, the government of India has established the NTA in November 2017 as an autonomous body under the department of higher education of Ministry of Education to improve the quality of its services and restore the values of education.
Today the same agency is responsible for conducting national level exams for certain recruitments, admission and fellowship in higher educational institutions related to engineering, medicine, management, etc. But this institution has further added physical pollution, in addition to the social polarisation and psychological impotence.
Repetition of the paper leak scam is a reality. It has broken the norm of having just a couple of toppers in the previous exams. This unexpected turn of events astonished aspirants and stakeholders. It hurts millions of aspirants seeking entry through this door for education and employment.
The Supreme Court has been hearing the cases to restore fairness and to improve the agency’s performance. But no one can guarantee whether they are going to inspire confidence among the student and stakeholder. The executive machinery of the state hushed up the judgements of the top court on several occasions in the past and the parliament is empowered sufficiently to frame new rules against the verdict of the court.
Meanwhile the union government notified the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act. It was passed in February this year. The law proposes severe punishment with imprisonment for 5 to 10 years, and a fine worth Rs. 10 millions. But still the paper leak scam is going to spoil the very first session of the BJP led NDA government in the 18th Lok Sabha.
After so much noise in the Vyapam scam the state has failed to achieve its meaningful conclusion. The top court cancelled the degrees of 634 doctors. Almost a decade after the special CBI court in Bhopal trying the scam had sentenced 11 individuals, including 6 candidates and 5 impersonators, to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment and fined them Rs. 10,000 each for their involvement in the case. Most other culprits either died or left free to continue the scam, and the state government changed the name of Vyapam (Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal) also known as the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) to the Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board (MPESB).
Similarly, in this noise no one seems committed to restore the dignity and integrity of the NTA and the education system. The state seems to convert it into yet another version of notorious Vyapam scam.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are of the author and not of Medical Dialogues. The Editorial/Content team of Medical Dialogues has not contributed to the writing/editing/packaging of this article.
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