According to NEET Paper Leaks, Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan says thousands of students who legitimately passed the exam would be impacted if it were canceled.
New Delhi: In the face of a blazing scandal and an ongoing inquiry into the paper being leaked a day before the exam, the government has decided not to cancel the medical entrance examination, NEET.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan defended his position by pointing out that the leak only impacted a small number of students,
which was in stark contrast to earlier instances in 2004 and 2015 where larger leaks resulted in the cancelation of exams.
He claimed that thousands of students who legitimately passed the exam would be impacted if it were canceled.
Additionally, he stated that the Supreme Court is considering the matter and that the court’s ruling will be final.
Following a furor when 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720 on the NEET-UG exam,
the National Testing Agency explained that some students had received grace marks because of an incorrect question and a delay in applicants receiving the question paper.
The NTA administered NEET-UG 2024, an examination for undergraduate medical programs,
which drew over 24 lakh students on May 5. On June 4, the findings were made public earlier than expected.
‘Allegations of a question paper leak and awarding grace marks to over 1,500 students sparked controversy.’
This resulted in large-scale demonstrations and legal actions, including cases brought before several courts, most notably the Supreme Court,
which has harshly criticized the NTA’s handling of the situation.
Since only a few candidates from Bihar benefited from the breach, which is thought to be localized, the center has declined to cancel the exam.
In Bihar, an accused student and three others have been taken into custody and are undergoing interrogation.
Mr. Pradhan described the leak of the UGC-NET exam question paper as an ‘institutional failure’ of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and stated that there was no need to cancel the exam,
but the government will form a high-level panel to investigate the agency’s operations.
At a news conference in New Delhi, Mr. Pradhan stated,
‘It is unacceptable to hold hostage the career of the many candidates who have correctly cleared the exam because of some individual instances of misconduct.’
We communicate with the Bihar Police regularly. They are to provide us with a report. We shall determine the next line of action after we obtain it.
All faults in the system will be fixed, and I accept full responsibility.
The minister urged people to have faith in our systems and to remember that the government will not stand for anomalies or wrongdoing.
He also warned the opposition parties not to politicize the matter and threatened to take tough measures against those found guilty, even if they were ‘top’ NTA officials.
While acknowledging concerns about grace marks and stating that they have previously been properly addressed, the Ministry of Education has moved quickly to rectify the matter.
