NEET 2021 may be conducted twice a year in online mode: Report

NEW DELHI: The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical, dental admission in India, maybe conducted twice a year in online mode. The National Testing Agency (NTA) and senior officials of the education and health ministries will hold a meeting on Monday, January 25, to discuss whether NEET-UG should be conducted more than once a year, says a report by the Times of India.

Will NEET 2021 be conducted online twice a year?

There are reasons for candidates expecting an increase in the number of attempts this year.

In December, the education minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ announced that the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main for admission to engineering will be held in four rounds instead of two from 2021. Candidates will get four attempts at JEE Main 2021 -- in February, March, April and May.

Unlike JEE Main, the NEET is the only entrance exam for undergraduate medicine. More than 16 lakh candidates registered for the medical entrance exam in 2020, of whom nearly 13 lakh appeared for the offline exam. So far, the NEET exam has been held in pen-and-paper mode once a year.

As per the TOI report, the main agenda of Monday’s meeting is whether NEET 2021 should be shifted from offline to computer-based mode and whether NEET-UG can be conducted twice a year or not.

A final decision by the health ministry

While the education ministry is involved, the final decision rests with the health ministry. Anonymous education ministry officials told TOI that a computer-based NEET 2021 will be more transparent and the evaluation process will be easier with no delay in declaration of results.

NEET 2021 twice a year: Students’ request

Meanwhile, through Twitter, medical candidates are requesting Ramesh Pokhriyal and NTA to conduct NEET 2021 two times.

One suggested that two rounds of NEET 2021 be held before and after the board exams.

@DrRPNishank @SupportNEET
I think the best decision over neet2021 is that
The neet 2021 should be conduct twice a year and
1st exam can be conducted before board paper and 2nd exam after board paper that will be balanced for both type of students dropper as well 12thappearing

— Chaitnay Krishan (@ChaitnayK) January 16, 2021

Another student raised five points for the education minister about NEET exam date, mode, attempts, syllabus and exam centres.

: Five points raised by students for Education Minister
1. Declaration of NEET 2021 exam date
2. Conducting NEET-UG twice a year
3. Will NEET 2021 be conducted in online mode
4. Will NTA NEET 2021 syllabus be reduced?
5. NEET exam centres 2021 abroad
Comment your queries

— Dharmik Chopda (@ChopdaDharmik) January 15, 2021

A candidate requests to conduct the exam twice with #NEET2021twotimes, as it is the only once chance after AIIMS and JIPMER.

@DG_NTA @DrRPNishank @MoHFW_INDIA Sir , A medical student now has just 1 chance per year after AIIMS and JIPMER are abolished..
Please allow us to sit in NEET 2021 Twice..
Fellow medical aspirants help this hashtag
Try trending it. #NEET2021TwoTimes #EducationMinisterGoesLive

— Sahil (@ssahilgarg) January 10, 2021

NEET 2021

Education minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ will soon announce NEET dates 2021. The application form will be released online at ntaneet.nic.in or nta.ac.in. Only the eligible candidates can register for the medical entrance test. Through NEET 2021, a total of 82,950 MBBS, 26,949 BDS, 52,720 AYUSH, 525 BVSc and AH seats across India.

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