BENGALURU: The forum of Former Vice Chancellors of Karnataka (FVCK) wrote a letter to the reforms committee chairperson at National Testing Agency (NTA) Dr K Radhakrishnan, stating that the testing agency must conduct NEET exams with total integrity, transparency, and accountability.
In the letter, the forum called for safety, security, integrity, and accountability of all “All India entrance exams” at various levels, and recommended that the centre, and the state governments should regulate coaching industry and private institutions to maintain the sanctity and credibility of the higher education system. They said that the NEET has disadvantaged rural students, benefited private medical colleges, and encouraged corrupt practices and commercialisation of medical education.
The forum discussed the NEET-2024, questioned its meaning, and whether they should continue with NEET, and potential alternatives for the examination. “NEET, introduced in 2016 to standardize admissions to MBBS courses and provide meritorious students access to their preferred colleges, has not fully achieved its intended purpose,” the letter said.
“It has disadvantaged rural students, benefited private medical colleges, and encouraged corrupt practices and the commercialization of medical education, and has also allowed students with lower merit to access MBBS by lowering the qualifying marks to 35%, while rural students struggle due to the high cost of private coaching and the lack of consideration for their board examination merit,” the letter added.
While the forum mentioned that they support the continuation of NEET, as it reduces the physical, financial, and psychological burden on students and parents, they emphasise that it must be conducted with total integrity, transparency, and accountability.
They suggested moving away from the conventional offline or paper-and-pen examination, which has inherent weaknesses and loopholes, to online examination, and also advocated shifting the entire examination system to an online mode, aligning with the ‘Digital India’ initiative.
The forum further recommended strengthening the NTA with reputed academicians and educationalists who have experience and expertise. The forum also proposed incorporating board exam performance with 50% weightage, by taking the average percentile of NEET and respective state board exam results, to enhance the academic standards of 10+2 across the country.