There must be something seriously wrong with the conduct and granting of marks in the medical entrance test Neet-UG examination of 2024. Several irregularities were noted in its conduct, including the possible leaking of the question paper, wrong issue of different question papers to different sections of students in parts of India and many more questions hanging over the results. No wonder the Supreme Court decided to issue notice to the Centre as well as the National Testing Agency vested with the task of conducting the exam and correction of papers that lakhs of students take all over the country.
It is the integrity of the testing system that is being doubted now after several egregious actions by the NTA. With their whole career depending on their performance in the test to qualify for a medical education in dentistry and general medicine at the undergraduate level, student anxiety skyrocketed with the release of results. The court has said that it might take extreme action like a retest if the anomalies are not properly explained.
It is not often that students stand with placards decrying the exam system, but they are so alarmed by the glaring discrepancies in the test this year that they have been quite demonstrative about their grievances. An unusual number of toppers — as high as 67 this time — as compared to just two last year and three on average in the last five years, grace marks awarded to 1,586 candidates on the grounds that there was “loss of time” in .
