Congress flags serious concerns over NTA's integrity and the conduct of NEET

The Congress said on Sunday (June 16) that there are "serious questions" regarding the integrity of the National Testing Agency and the way NEET is designed and administered.

The opposition party hoped that when the new Standing Committees of Parliament gets constituted, it would take up an in-depth review of the NEET, NTA and NCERT.

"I was a member of Parliament's Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare between 2014 and 2019 and recall broad support for NEET. But there were MPs, especially from Tamil Nadu, who had raised concerns that NEET would privilege CBSE students and would disadvantage youth coming from non-CBSE schools," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

'Grave doubts'

"I do think now that this CBSE issue needs proper analysis. Is NEET discriminatory? Are students from poorer backgrounds being denied opportunities? Other states like Maharashtra also have expressed grave doubts on NEET," he said.

There are also serious questions on the integrity of the National Testing Agency itself and the manner in which NEET is designed and administered, he said.

The NCERT itself has lost all professionalism in the last decade, Ramesh claimed.

"Hopefully the new Standing Committee(s) when they get constituted will take up an in-depth review of NEET, NTA and NCERT. This should receive the highest priority," he said.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (UG), or NEET, was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres with around 24 lakh candidates appearing for it. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4 — the day the general election results were announced — apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets was completed earlier.

Allegations of paper leaks

There have been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar and other irregularities in the pan-India exam.

The Centre and the National Testing Agency on Thursday told the Supreme Court they had cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates who took the examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses.

They will have the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for loss of time, the Centre has said.

The Congress had on Friday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on the matter and asserted that only a Supreme Court-monitored forensic probe could safeguard the future of lakhs of young students.

(With agency inputs)