The NTA Racket And Student’s Despair
Yet again, even as the dust is to settle on this year’s NEET exam controversy in another blow to students appearing for the UGC NET exam held nationwide on Tuesday, it was cancelled by the education ministry, saying it may have been “compromised.”
The Central Bureau of Investigation has been asked to probe the case. The step was taken as the Union education ministry issued a statement late Wednesday stating that the UGC received inputs from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of the home ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordi nation Centre (I4C) earlier in the day that “prima facie indicate that the integrity of the aforesaid examination may have been compromised.”
This led the ministry to cancel the exam and hold a fresh one soon to ensure “the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the examination process”.
“Government will take further action on receipt of this report. Government is committed to ensure the sanctity of examinations to protect the interest of students. It is reiterated that any individual/organisation found to be involved in this matter will face strictest action,” the ministry statement said.
The Organised Racket At Higher Levels
Needless to say, the cancellation of exams one after the other has left students uncertain about their future, and has caused anxiety and stress among students who had been preparing for these exams for months.
In India, the education system has always been exam-oriented, and exams play a crucial role in determining a student’s future. The cancellation of exams has led to uncertainty among students about their academic progress, college admissions, and job prospects, leaving them in a state of utter confusion.
The most important questions here are: where are the gaps, how are they being exploited, and who stands to gain from it?
In the case of the NEET exam, they were specific basic points that raised suspicion –
First is 67 students getting 100% marks; second, the provision incorporated for grace marks citing a 2018 Supreme Court order, which may have benefited around 8000 candidates, seems to have been a strategy to cover mismanagement.
The third question concerns the mismanagement reported from various centres in Bihar and reports of question leaks through professional gangs.
Fourth, it appears that there is an ‘organised racket’, and the same may be coming via the involvement of bureaucracy. Hence, it is essential to identify these people.
The reason why this seems to be an organised racket is that when the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police probed into the alleged leak of question papers of NEET-UG 2024 conducted on May 5, it arrested 13 persons and recovered admit cards, post-dated cheques and educational certificates from following raids at a hostel and a play school in Patna.
How And Why Is The NTA Is Not Cooperating
Why is NTA not providing relevant information, as is the case, after one of the arrested students, Ayush Kumar (19) from Danapur, confessed that he had received the NEET questions a day before the exam held on May 5 and they were exactly the same, the EOU investigating officer wrote to NTA for the question paper to tally it with the recovered questions, but despite two letters it has not yet been provided, said NH Khan, EOU additional director general (ADG).
“We are so far not able to corroborate who got the answer key/questions and from where, but our suspicion grew after one of the arrested persons turned out to be the same person who had been nabbed in connection with the teachers recruitment exam and had got bail. Some of the students also confessed that they had been brought there for mugging up the answers. We also received a badly burnt booklet, which has been sent to the forensic science laboratory flr examination. This pointed to some organised racket,” he added.
Finally, Modi Govt Wakes Up
After much mess and protests, the Modi government has finally admitted that there are concerns within the government over suspected lapses in the National Testing Agency’s conduct of NEET 2024, given that certain decisions taken by the testing body seem out of tune with its usual processes.
Additionally, it seems that concerns don’t stop here.
There is also internal misgiving within NTA about some decisions, such as awarding compensatory ‘grace marks’ to some students.
Other major red flags include the results being announced early on the same day as the Lok Sabha election results and the alleged leak of exam papers.
“While NTA is a highly professional body and has done a stellar job over the years including in large-scale exams, one thing is clear — there were lapses and warning signs this time that were not given due attention,” a well-known academic familiar with the body’s functioning stated.
“Timely and calibrated action was essential, not only to prevent snowballing of the controversy but, more importantly, to prevent this trust deficit that has emerged with respect to NTA. Some mid-course correction has been done, but more is required,” the person said on condition of anonymity.
The results of the national undergraduate medical education entrance exam were announced on June 4, just 29-30 days after the May 5 exam and 10 days short of the June 14 date indicated in NTA’s NEET Information bulletin.
Last year, NEET was held on May 7 and results were declared on June 13; in 2022, the exam was held on July 17, and results came on September 7; in 2021, the exam date was September 12 and results on November 1.
Those well-versed in the processes pointed out that declaring results in 45 days is quite a challenge and possible only when the whole system works at a “very good speed”.
In post exam scenario, it takes about 15 days for the answer sheets to reach NTA from all the exam centres across states. After that, a massive exercise is conducted at NTA that entails scanning of exam sheets and a thorough manual checking to rule out any discrepancies. This is also known to take 15-20 days or more, they said.
“Even after that, the result data is closely analysed to check for oddities such as concentration of high scorers in some centres or inflated marks in some places and so on… All that may strike as unusual, given past record of those centres,” stated a person in know of how NTA functions.
“If any such discrepancy comes to notice, NTA team goes back to the starting point and analyses answer sheets and data from that cluster. This is a time-consuming process.”
The allegedly ‘hurried’ result declaration has raised several questions.
Such as, insiders said, how did NTA’s analysis miss concentration of high scorers from certain centres and the crowd at the top-ranking space?
A major concern is over the now reversed decision to allocate grace marks to 1,563 students. The most serious concern raised is over the alleged exam paper leak.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that just like the ancient Nalanda University was a great centre of learning and attracted students from different countries, India today should develop into a hub of education for the world and provide the most advanced research system and facilities to students – Modi stated while inaugurating the Nalanda University campus in Rajgir, Bihar.
This is a far cry from the situation where domestic students need help to tackle the system.
Congress Calls For Protests
Even as the students pay the heavy price, the Congress’ central leadership has directed Pradesh Congress Committees to stage protests on Friday in state capitals against the discrepancies in NEET-UG and over the Centre’s “inaction”.
“Against this massive corruption and irregularities in the NEET examination and the desperate inaction and silence of the NDA government, all Pradesh Congress Committees are requested to hold massive protests at their state headquarters on Friday, 21 June 2024, demanding justice for students.
This demonstration should involve senior leaders and party functionaries,” according to a circular issued by AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal to AICC and PCC leaders.
Meanwhile, Congress’ student wing, NSUI, demanded the scrapping of NEET, and its activists will “gherao Parliament” on the opening day of the session, its president Varun Choudhary said.
The Last Horizon
The questions are very simple here.
The opposition may have found its targets in the “gherao Parliament.” Still, these are nothing more than games being played at political levels and in the political arena. At the same time, students who have spent their parents’ hard-earned resources in preparation for these exams are paying the “real” price.
Students who have burnt the midnight oil in preparation for these exams, with the focus of making something “fruitful” of their lives, a profession that will give them direction in life, today sadly have their dreams shattered, and the agony of reappearing for the same exams with the same enthusiasm is truly tested!
Meanwhile, those involved in this “organised racket” have made their money!
