NEW DELHI: The Education and Health Ministries are deliberating on whether to conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) in pen-and-paper mode or online mode.
A decision in this regard is expected soon, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday.
The Education Ministry has held two rounds of discussions with the Health Ministry, which is led by Union Minister JP Nadda.
Currently, NEET-UG is conducted offline in pen-and-paper mode, where students solve multiple-choice questions on an OMR sheet. NEET is the largest entrance examination in the country, with over 24 lakh candidates taking the test in 2024.
“The administrative ministry for NEET is the Health Ministry, and hence we are in talks with them about whether NEET should be conducted in pen-and-paper mode or online mode. We have had two rounds of discussions with the Health Ministry, led by JP Nadda. Whatever option is considered best suited for conducting the exam, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is ready to undertake the exercise,” Pradhan told reporters.
The Minister said a decision is expected soon, with reforms to be implemented in the 2025 edition of the exam. “What will be NEET’s methodology, what will be the protocol… a decision is expected soon. We will notify it soon,” he added.
The NTA conducts NEET every year for admissions to medical colleges, with 1,08,000 seats available for the MBBS course. Of these, approximately 56,000 seats are in government hospitals and around 52,000 are in private colleges. Admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha also rely on NEET results.
The idea of switching NEET to a computer-based test (CBT) mode has been deliberated upon several times before. However, the push for reforms gained momentum following a paper leak controversy earlier this year.
Under scrutiny for alleged irregularities in NEET and PhD entrance examinations, the Centre had set up a panel in July to ensure transparent, smooth, and fair conduct of exams by the NTA.
The high-level panel, headed by former ISRO Chief R Radhakrishnan, has recommended multi-stage testing for NEET-UG as a viable possibility. “An acceptable framework with thresholds, test objectives for scoring and ranking at each stage, and the number of attempts, etc., may be evolved,” the panel stated in its report.
While NEET has faced allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks, the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) was cancelled earlier this year after the ministry received inputs suggesting the exam’s integrity had been compromised. Both incidents are currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Two other examinations – CSIR-UGC NET and NEET-PG – were also cancelled as a precautionary measure.
The panel, which includes former AIIMS Delhi director Randeep Guleria, Central University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor B J Rao, and IIT Madras Professor Emeritus K Ramamurthy, was tasked with reviewing security protocols related to exam processes and making recommendations to enhance their robustness.
Other members of the panel include PeopleStrong co-founder and Karmayogi Bharat board member Pankaj Bansal, IIT Delhi Dean of Student Affairs Aditya Mittal, and Ministry of Education Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal. Two IIT Kanpur academicians, Professor Amey Karkare and Assistant Professor Debapriya Roy, are also part of the committee.
