With questions being raised about the “integrity of certain competitive examinations”, the Health Ministry announced the postponement of the NEET-PG entrance examination “as a precautionary measure”, just hours before it was due to be held on June 23 morning. This followed on the heels of decision to remove Subodh Kumar Singh from his position as Director-General of the National Testing Agency, which has come under fire for an alleged paper leak and irregularities in the NEET-UG examination, and other examinations which it conducts.
Conceding a persistent demand by students and the Opposition, the allegations of cheating and malpractice in the NEET-UG examination, held on May 5, will be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation to carry out a comprehensive probe, the Education Ministry announced. It noted that the Union government has enacted the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which came into effect from June 21, and vowed that “strictest action” will be taken against individuals and organisations found to be guilty.
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These measures seem to be the first step in a promised overhaul of the examination system, with the Ministry constituting a seven-member committee of experts on Saturday to create a reform roadmap for the NTA and its processes. Chaired by former ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan, the panel has been mandated to make recommendations on the structure and functioning of the NTA, reforms in the mechanisms of the examination process, and improvement in data security protocols, and submit its report within two months.
‘Thorough assessment’
Unlike the NEET-UG, which was conducted by the NTA, an autonomous body under the Education Ministry, the NEET-PG is conducted by the National Board of Examinations, an autonomous body under the Health Ministry. In a statement issued on June 22 night, the Health Ministry said that, given the recent allegations, it had decided to “undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of NEET-PG” and thus postponed the examination due to be held the next morning, promising to set fresh dates soon.
Explained | The allegations over NEET-UG 2024
Regretting the inconvenience caused to candidates, the Health Ministry said it took the decision in the “best interest of the students” and to “maintain the sanctity of the examination process”.
An hour earlier, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet issued a notice giving additional charge of the NTA to Pradeep Singh Kharola, chairman and managing director of the India Trade Promotion Organization, until the appointment of a regular incumbent. It added that Mr. Singh, the current DG, has been placed on “compulsory wait” in the Department of Personnel & Training.
Multiple controversies
Over the past month, the agency has been caught in a string of controversies, starting with the row over irregularities in NEET-UG, an entrance test for undergraduate medical programmes, which affected over 23 lakh students. This was followed by the cancellation of the UGC-NET examination for research scholars and university teachers, after cybercrime department inputs that the integrity of the exam had been compromised. The joint CSIR-UGC-NET examination was then postponed due to “unavoidable circumstances and logistical issues”.
Student protests, amplified by the Opposition, have been raging through the week, with demands to conduct the NEET-UG examination again.
Assailed on all sides, the Education Ministry said the new expert panel is being set up to “ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations” through the NTA. It is “the first in a series of steps to improve the examination process”, according to a post on X by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who earlier this week took responsibility for the NEET-UG paper leak.
Review and reform
The expert panel has been mandated with assessing the NTA’s current grievance redressal mechanism, identifying areas of improvement, and making recommendations for enhanced efficiency. It will also make recommendations on the organisational structure of the NTA and clearly define the roles and responsibilities of functionaries at every level, according to an official statement.
The committee will conduct a thorough review of the NTA’s standard operating procedures and protocols and suggest measures to strengthen them, analyse the end-to-end examination process, and suggest measures to forestall any possible breaches. Existing data security processes and security protocols for paper-setting will also be evaluated by the committee.
Apart from Dr. Radhakrishnan, the committee also includes Central University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Professor B.J. Rao and the former director of AIIMS Delhi, Randeep Guleria.
Editorial | Testing times: On the need to mend the National Testing Agency
Opposition outrage
Meanwhile, the Opposition continued to raise questions about the irregularities. “No matter how much effort BJP makes in the NEET scam, it cannot escape its responsibility of promoting fraud, corruption and education mafia!” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X. He pointed out that the Supreme Court had earlier said that action should be taken place even if 0.001% fraud has taken place in NEET-UG, and asked why the Union government was unwilling to conduct the examination again.
The Nationalist Congress Party called the NEET-PG postponement a “failure” on the part of the Union government. “By sacking the NTA DG (Exam Body Chief), Union Education Minister Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan cannot absolve himself from his failure in doing his duty. He should also step down as minister and accept accountability for all the mess and malpractices in the examination process in our country,” the NCP said.
The academic community and the medical fraternity also reacted with outrage. The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association called the postponement of the PG examination “a shame”. Student leader Aishe Ghosh, former president of the Students’ Union of Jawaharlal Nehru University, said, “From CSIR-NET to NEET PG, all exams are being postponed. The entire system of ‘One Nation, One Exam’ has collapsed. If Dharmendra Pradhan has taken moral responsibility, he should resign immediately.”
