Minister of Education meets NEET-UG applicants in the midst of exam uncertainties

Amidst a heated dispute about purported anomalies in the administration of the medical entrance examination this year, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan hosted a few NEET hopefuls at his home on Thursday.

The students brought up concerns about the academic calendar, the delay in the counseling process, and the uncertainty about the outcome of the May exam, according to sources.

Although there have been calls for a retake from several sources, the education ministry has insisted that the instances of paper leaks were isolated and that it cannot endanger the futures of thousands of applicants who passed the exam with fairness by canceling the entire exam.

The case has already reached the Supreme Court, which on Thursday postponed hearings on several petitions requesting that the exam be rescheduled and canceled until July 18.

A probe into the alleged malpractices has also been requested by the petitioners.

The ministry has notified the Supreme Court that IIT Madras performed data analytics on the NEET-UG 2024 results and discovered that neither "mass malpractice" nor a specific group of applicants who benefited from it and received unusually high scores could be established.

The statement from the government takes on more weight in light of the Supreme Court's July 8 statement that it could order a retest if widespread irregularities occurred during the exam's administration.

The CBI is looking into the situation. On May 5, more than 23.33 lakh candidates took the exam at 4,750 locations across 571 cities, including 14 international destinations.