NEET PG Exam Centre Row: Private Centres Avoided for Better Monitoring, says NBE Chief

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing uproar by the National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2024 aspirants regarding the allocation of exam centres, the president of the National Board of Examinations (NBEMS) Dr. Abhijat Sheth said recently that private entrepreneur institutes were avoided for NEET PG 2024 centres for better monitoring.

Dr Sheth further added that the exam scheduled to take place on August 11 is being held in two shifts to eliminate any possibility of malpractice.

The exam, which is conducted by the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) along with its technical partner TCS, has been embroiled in controversies over allegations of paper leak twice, both of which have been rejected by the authorities. Although previously it was decided that NEET PG 2024 exam would be held on June 23, the exam was cancelled on June 22, only hours before the exam.

Commenting on the upcoming exam, Dr. Sheth told PTI, "We are relying on TCS iON centres and AICTE affiliated institutes to hold the exam this time for better supervision and also to stem out any possibility of malpractice. A few private entrepreneur centres have been roped in where there are no TCS iON/ AICTE affiliated institutes available."

Also Read: NEET PG 2024 exam tomorrow in 2 shifts: NBE adopts AIIMS process for results preparation

Also, the aim behind holding it in two shifts is also to ensure that students do not have to travel too far for the exam centres, he added.

"We have ensured that the students are issued exam centres in the same state as per their given address while filling up forms, to the best extent possible," Dr Sheth said.

The NEET-PG will be held on pan-India basis for 2,28,542 candidates at 416 examination centres in 170 cities. It will be conducted in two shifts and the scores of the candidates will be normalised, Dr Sheth stated. The centres which were classified as high-risk by TCS based on their audit have been removed from the list.

"Holding in shifts and normalisation is an old and a legitimate process for conducting the exams in India. Institutions like IITs, AIIMS, etc are conducting examinations in multiple shifts," Dr Sheth said.

Over some candidates being reassigned exam centres on August 4, he said that has been because of the addition of new centres to further reduce inter-state travel of some of the candidates as per suggestions of the health ministry.

Dr Sheth stated that 90 per cent students have been allotted test centres within the state of their correspondence address and remaining students have been allotted centres in nearby states due to limitations of testing seats in their own correspondence state. The admit cards for the exam have been released on Thursday (August 8), he said.

Recently, NBE issued a clarification and mentioned that the social media posts claiming that the question paper for NEET PG 2024 has been leaked and was available for sale were "false and bogus".

Issuing a notice on 07.08.2024, NBE denied such false claims made by a Telegram channel titled "NEET-PG LEAKED MATERIAL", where unscrupulous agents were claiming to provide NEET-PG 2024 questions in exchange for money.