The way ahead for 2.4 mn medical aspirants looks rocky. Deliberations on entrance test NEET’s question paper leak are slipping into a maze. SC said a retest is an “extreme last resort” – only in play if leaks were “systemic”, compromised the entire test, and if it was not possible to identify how many, and who, benefitted from the breach. Nodal test agency NTA says breach isn’t systemic, didn’t compromise the test at the all-India level, and was limited to centres of Godhra and Patna. Its claims are curious. In today’s always-online world, it’s near-naive to imagine that question papers would be confined to geographical origins of said leak. The scary part is that weeks after revelations of the breach, the only “solution” on the table is a retest, which is a non-starter. Everyone agrees with this, yet the idea lingers.

Students left hanging | Measures taken so far have been drops in the ocean of overhaul required. Ninety-three candidates have been debarred, and an SC-directed re-test was conducted to correct NTA’s very own grace-marks fiddle. In the uncertainty, counselling, the next step of allotting colleges, has been indefinitely delayed. That means 1.3 mn candidates who qualified have been left high and dry. The academic calendar indefinitely delayed, it’s clear that NEET, introduced as a reform, has plunged medical education into chaos.

Logistics one part | SC requires NTA to establish the extent of the breach. CBI will need months to do that, and it should not limit itself to investigating only the paper leak, for it will stumble upon more anomalies. What till then? It’s been long suggested NEET-UG follow the JEE system of computer-based offline exams, with less outsourcing of examiners. NTA’s overhaul too will not be overnight. A committee largely of technocrats headed by a space scientist is reviewing its functioning. The limitation is that both are really dealing with logistics and security of exams.

Reboot both NTA & NEET | Faults at NTA are not about conduct of exams alone. It is equally about govt’s approach to assessment for professional and higher education. What is unfolding this year with NEET-UG – there’s no end in sight for students’ anxiety – is making it more than evident that centralisation of tests can derail an entire academic year, and future of students. That is the conversation that must also be renewed.

Linkedin

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

END OF ARTICLE
Opinions