NEET Exam Controversy: How is It Going to impact students?
The National Testing Agency (NTA) declared the NEET-UG 2024 results on June 4, when most of India had its eyes on the results of the Lok Sabha election. The results led to many controversies. While alleged paper leak became a matter of concern when the exam was held on May 5, the results brought out discussions over rank inflation, grace marks and students from same examination centre securing top ranks. This is the first time in the history of NEET that 67 students have got full marks- 720/720. The cut-off went up exponentially, leaving many students worried about securing a government medical college seat. Though primarily it was not revealed, later NTA confirmed awarding grace marks to several students to compensate for the alleged lost time at the exam centre. Several critics think that the marks were given randomly and they call the whole mechanism ‘shoddy’. However, the NTA cited a formula based on a 2018 Supreme Court ruling concerning the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), which is conducted online. This is considered unsuitable by many critics since NEET is an offline exam, and the 2018 ruling explicitly excludes admissions for medical and engineering programs. Recently NTA has scrapped the grace marks and 1563 students are given option to sit for a re-examine on June 23. However, students want scrapping of the NEET score altogether. Is NTA responsible for what the political oppositions are calling a deliberate scam? Or is it a case of mere inefficiency? Outlook spoke to students, expert, doctor, and parents to understand the fallout of this NEET controversy.
