The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak and numerous other problems faced by students in the medical entrance exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) this year have given currency to the demand of going back to the pre-2016 system of entrance exams. Several state leaders have sought the scrapping of NEET and some have asked to be allowed to conduct their own medical entrance tests. There is no doubt that the NTA has failed to inspire confidence among millions of students who appear for the various exams it conducts.
This is especially true for the 24 lakh students who appeared for the NEET-UG. The Supreme Court decided not to scrap this year’s NEET-UG because of the “absence of material on record” to conclude that “there was a systemic breach”.
The top court’s order is not an endorsement of the NTA’s conduct. Far from it, the court rapped the agency on the knuckles by reversing its decision to award marks for two options in a physics question. Meanwhile, police investigations into alleged NEET-UG paper leaks have led to arrests in some states; the CBI is also looking into the possibility of a national network’s involvement in the case.
The government and the NTA surely need to do more to ensure a foolproof exam system. The solution to the problems in conducting NEET, however, lies in fixing the present system, not in going back to the pre-2016 one in which the states conducted separate medical entrance tests. That system was beset with problems such as students having to appear in multiple exams for different states, varying test standards, and a lack of transparency.
NEET was envisioned to create an equitable and accessible system that would provide a standardised test to select the brightest from across the country. States and the Centre now need to work together to improve the tests’ integrity and transparency. Pulling in different directions will further dent the exams’ credibility and the promise of meritocracy. The Union government has rightly decided to undertake a technological audit of the NTA to fix the glitches. The committee set up under K Radhakrishnan to reform the NTA’s systems and procedures would do well to involve all stakeholders and keep an eye on global best practices.