BENGALURU: The National Testing Agency (NTA) that conducts NEET UG exams along with other entrance examinations for admission to higher education institutions, has found itself in a soup in the past two days.
Parents and students are demanding a retest of the medical entrance exam, while a group of people have questioned the sanctity of the autonomous testing organisation with 67 students securing 720/720 for the first time. In this commotion, experts weigh in on how feasible is a retest and what course correction NTA can do to restore the integrity of one the most important entrance testing agencies in the country.
Sacchidanand Sarvajnamurthy Aradhya, former vice-chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) told TNIE that scoring 720 in NEET is a herculean task, and so many students securing full marks is a point of concern “which has never been heard of”. He added that errors could have been made in how the results were declared. “The NTA needs to be cautious, maybe use technology tools not just for invigilation but also for result declaration so that ruptures in the system can be addressed,” he said.
A retest for over 24 lakh students will be a difficult affair, and will also delay the academic calendar by two months and impact all stakeholders, apart from the cost factor. “We have about 89,000 students who have cleared the exam from Karnataka. General merit rank students who are expecting to get into AIIMS, Delhi, will now find it difficult. Also, we are not aware of how many have scored high ranks in the state and how this affects their admission to Bangalore Medical College. The NTA needs to bring more clarity on the controversy and address anxious parents and students,” said Anant Kulkarni, CEO, BASE.
He added that the NTA needs to train teachers and invigilators. “So many students have complained of either receiving question papers late or centres collecting them early. They need to highlight the importance of exams, just like the Election Commission does with elections,” he suggested. Experts also recommend that the agency should conduct the exam twice a year to reduce the burden, not only on students but also on officials. Students get to appear for the JEE twice, and there are options to apply for other engineering exams in states, but for a medical career, only NEET ranks are counted.