- At every given opportunity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues express enthusiasm about how the aspirational society is primed to be counted among the most developed nations by the year 2047. Truth be told, who doesn’t wish to be associated with a country that will stand shoulder to shoulder with the developed ones soon? The moot point to ponder here is whether all our critical economic parameters are functioning at full tilt to progress toward the expected targets and reach the ultimate objective. Not really. Look at how the NEET fiasco panned out over the last couple of years, completely devastating aspiring students aiming to get into some of the prestigious medical institutions in India. These are our future doctors.
PC: Business Today
- Test paper leaks have debilitatingly affected millions of students and their years of preparations bit-time. After the whole nation ridiculed the National Testing Agency’s repeated failure, unprecedented security was imposed to conduct the re-NEET test recently. Mind you, tighter security is no reform. NTA itself needs an overhaul, though. Simple. What has been done to address its shortcomings? Op NEET-UG retest was, for all purposes, conducted successfully. The security was epic. CRPF, CISF, Air Force, State and local police forces, AI-based monitoring, 1.4L CCTVs, 51000+signal jammers, 2L personnel, multi-agency surveillance (offline & cyber), GPS-enabled fleet, lockdown facilities, a messaging app ban. The list is humongous.
PC: Deccan Herald
- A whole-of-govt approach to conduct a three-hour exam for medical aspirants. Nearly 23L NEET-UG candidates, mostly 17 to 20 years old, were frisked and exposed to intensive biometric scrutiny. Imagine the afternoon queues at high noon at these temperatures. It will be instructive to know the per capita cost of this gargantuan crisis-level security exercise. What this one-day retest costs, in simple money terms, is the tangible cost of NTA’s multiple failures, NEET the largest. There is no measure of the mental agony of the retest. Forced to sit the exam all over again imposed an immense emotional and psychological burden on candidates and families, who have stretched themselves and their finances, taken loans, sold gold, and put plans on hold for this one test.
PC: Times Now
- Twelve students took their own lives in the 37 days since NEET was cancelled. There is no measure for such tragedy. There is no grievance mechanism, and even less accountability. Simply shuffling bureaucrats is no answer. NEET is poorly designed and needs an overhaul, centralization, and a single yearly attempt to jeopardise a full batch when the system glitches, or there is fraud. NEET tests more coaching preparedness than merit. It has simply strengthened the coaching industry, disadvantaging state board students. NTA cannot secure exams through extraordinary measures. The structural flaws of NTA must be addressed. The capacity, accountability, transparency, and governance. That is the failure that no amount of security can cover. The NTA must be overhauled.
