Citing widespread irregularities in how the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical colleges was conducted, a section of aspirants on Thursday wrote to the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Union government, requesting for a re-examination.
They highlighted an alleged question paper leak in Bihar, hidden grace marks, “illogically high” scores, an unexpected number of full scores, and very high cut-off scores.
Over 2,000 persons have signed the petition. “We, the undersigned students and concerned citizens of India, are writing to bring to your immediate attention the serious irregularities and discrepancies observed in the recently conducted NEET examination. Our future and the integrity of the education system are at stake, and we cannot remain silent about these issues,” it said.
“Many students received different marks on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets. These discrepancies were not due to grace marks.”
Aspirants have also pointed out that the mid-term revision of syllabus added further confusion and unfairness to the examination process.
While students have demanded a re-examination, the NTA in a statement has said the integrity of the exam has not been compromised. However, it has also said that the NTA had registered cases against impersonators, where action against “unfair means cases” has been taken according to the existing rules, including the cancellation of candidature.
The NTA has not commented on students’ grievances of mismatch between OMR sheet scores and the final result score they received.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday slammed the Modi government over alleged irregularities in the NEET medical entrance exam and called for resolution of students’ “legitimate complaints” through an investigation.
In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, “First the NEET exam paper was leaked and now the students allege that there has been a scam in its results as well. Serious questions are being raised on 6 students of the same centre getting 720 out of 720 marks and many kinds of irregularities are coming to the fore.” There are reports of many children committing suicide across the country after the results were announced, Gandhi said and added that this is very sad and shocking.
“Why is the government ignoring the voice of lakhs of students? Students want answers to legitimate questions related to the rigging in the NEET exam results,” the Congress general secretary said.