Government to set up panel to suggest steps to improve NTA’s work

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the alleged irregularities in the recently held National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET), and the cancelled University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) were “an institutional failure of the National Testing Agency”.

Students staged protests in front of the Ministry of Education (MoE) as well as the Minister’s residence on Thursday

Mr. Pradhan, in a press briefing held on Thursday evening in New Delhi, said that on Wednesday, June 19, at 3 p.m., information was received by the MoE from the Home Ministry’s Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) that the dark net had leaked questions from the UGC-NET exam. Late on Wednesday evening, the MoE decided to scrap the examination and issued instructions that a re-test would be held for the approximately 11 lakh UGC-NET aspirants.

Mr. Pradhan has said that a reform committee consisting of technocrats, bureaucrats and scientists would be formulated, which would suggest improvements to the NTA’s working.

The Minister said that while Anti-Cheating Bill had been passed in both Houses earlier this year, the Law Ministry was on job for firming up the rules, and “very soon, we will come out with stringent rules”, he said. “We don’t have any weapon right now to face these kinds of challenges,” Mr. Pradhan said.

“These days, software like Telegram are used to leak questions. When we are conducting exams of Ph.D. students, we have to maintain quality, and with full pain, we are taking responsibility to rectify the system. Very soon, we will come with new dates [for the re-test],” he said.

On the NEET 2024 paper leak, Mr. Pradhan said the accused would be punished but before that, evidence and proof had to be gathered. “Patna police is working hard on cracking the case. Senior police officials of Bihar are in touch with central government officials,” he added.

“I take responsibility for NEET paper leak and whoever is responsible will not be spared,” Mr. Pradhan also said.

The Minister side-stepped questions on allegations that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav’s personal assistant had been named in the NEET leak case for alleged connections with the accused.

The back-to-back alleged paper leak cases have affected the lives of at least 35 lakh students. NEET paves the way for admissions to medical colleges, and the UGC-NET is administered to choose Ph.D. candidates.

Student protests

Students from across Delhi on Thursday afternoon gathered at the MoE to protest against the alleged discrepancies in the NEET-UG exam, and the cancellation of the UGC-NET.

“We have seen massive discrepancies on the result of the NEET-UG declared on June 4. NEET aspirants have been demanding a re-exam. However, the NTA and the MoE has not responded to their demands,” All India Students’ Association (AISA) said. The student body also alleged that paper leaks had been seen in various shifts of the UGC-NET.

Many student protestors were detained across locations by the Delhi Police on Thursday.

“Protesting students demanded the NTA be scrapped and for the Minister of Education Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan to immediately resign,” the Students’ Federation of India said.

The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), which staged a protest in front of the Minister’s residence, claimed that the Minister was involved in various “scams”. “It is evident from Dharmendra Pradhan’s actions that he has taken money in this scandal. We are prepared to offer this money openly, but the Education Minister must immediately ban the National Testing Agency and take decisive action against the officials involved,” NSUI national president Varun Choudhary said.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also joined the protests. “After the irregularities in the NEET-UG exam, the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam yesterday [Wednesday] raises a big question mark on a government institution like NTA, which is very unfortunate and a matter of playing with the future of the students,” the ABVP said in a statement.