West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in the wake of the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider abolishing NEET and reverting to the system of states conducting the examinations.
“The allegations of paper leak, taking bribes by certain people and the officials involved in the conduct of the examinations, opening of window to accommodate certain students to apply for examinations, grace marks etc, are some of the serious issues which need complete attention and requires a thorough, clean and impartial probe,” Banerjee wrote in her letter to the Prime Minister.
She also added that such instances jeopardise the careers and aspirations of lakhs of students who look forward to getting admission into these medical courses.
“Such instances not only compromise the quality of medical education in the country but adversely affect the quality of medical facilities/treatment in the country,” she said.
In Darjeeling, Congress’ student organisation, West Bengal State Chhatra Parishad, demonstrated against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and demanded his resignation over the issue.
While speaking with ANI, one of the protesters said, “Our demand is that the NEET exam should be conducted again as it is a question of the future of 24 lakh students. Not only the students but their parents are also involved. The current situation is having a negative impact on those students who are preparing for the exam…” Meanwhile, NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) also held a protest in Delhi over the NEET issue on Monday.
Taking to its official X handle, the NSUI posted, “Until the NEET candidates get justice, NSUI will continue to struggle from the streets to the corridors of the House. We demand that NEET students should be given justice by conducting a re-examination, and corrupt institutions like NTA should be banned.”
It added further, “NSUI National President Varun Choudhary, along with NEET students and their families has given this message to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from Jantar Mantar that NSUI’s struggle will continue until the students get justice.”
The NTA, which conducted the NEET-UG exams, is facing criticism over alleged irregularities in the exams. This resulted in several protests across the country, with protestors and political parties demanding to disband the NTA.
An unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 out of 720, which added to the concerns.
The Ministry of Education said it has constituted a high-level committee of experts to make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvements in data security protocols and the functioning of the NTA.
The 7-member committee, led by ISRO former chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, will submit its report to the ministry in the next two months.
“In order to ensure transparent, smooth, and fair conduct of examinations through the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts to make recommendations on reform in the mechanism of examination process improvement in data security protocols and the structure and functioning of the National Testing Agency,” the ministry said.