NEET Controversy: Opposition targets education minister; academia gets social media toolkit

NEW DELHI: In a campaign, tagged with the phrase #Committed2ExamIntegrity, praising the central government for taking action after National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET UG 2024) fiasco, the heads of several central government-run education institutes are hailing the centre’s responses on paper leak and irregularities in exams. One university confirmed receiving a “request” – along with all other central institutions – to make such laudatory posts in support of the union government.

The campaign includes the state’s news channel, DD News, periodically posting video clips on X (formerly Twitter) of senior officials of educational institutions speaking favourably of the “proactive steps” by the government to “protect the interests of the students and integrity of the examinations”.

The campaign started after the ministry of education entrusted the matter of alleged irregularities in NEET (UG) examination 2024 to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). On Saturday, the ministry of education also set up a high-level committee to look into the exam conducting body, the National Testing Agency. The Public Examinations Act, 2024 also came into effect from Saturday. Apart from the above three measures to address paper leaks, Subodh Kumar Singh, director general of the National Testing Agency (NTA) was replaced by retired Indian Administration Service (IAS) officer, Pradeep Singh Kharola, on Saturday.

Caught on the backfoot by intense public criticism of its mishandling of major exams affecting lakhs of youth, the ministry apparently sent out a toolkit to the institutions. Even though the university officials dutifully hailed the measures, opposition members raised the issue of exam cancellation and paper leaks on the first day of 18th Lok Sabha session on Monday.

The NEET-UG fiasco led to the cancellation and postponement of several other exams causing anger among the students. A day after NTA conducted UGC-NET June 2024 exam, it was cancelled by the education ministry on Wednesday night, June 19, citing “integrity of exam may be compromised”. Later NTA postponed the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research National Eligibility Test (CSIR NET 2024) due to ‘unavoidable circumstances, logistic issues’. Later, the National Board Of Examinations In Medical Sciences (NBEMS) cancelled the NEET-PG exam just 12 hours before it was supposed to be held for nearly 10 lakh students on June 23.

#Committed2ExamIntegrity campaign

From Delhi University vice chancellor Yogesh Singh to Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) director V Kamakoti, everyone is urging the student community to repose their faith in central government institutions and mechanisms.

DD News started the campaign by posting a video statement of M Jagadesh Kumar, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman on Sunday afternoon.

Kumar welcomed the formation of a high-level committee of experts headed by Dr K. Radhakrishnan, former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief. He called it a “step towards assuring entrance examinations' transparent, smooth and fair conduct”.

Kumar said the UGC-NET exam was cancelled to “protect the interest of students.” “Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) under Ministry of Home Affairs gave the information of the compromise of UGC-NET Exam. The Education Ministry cancelled the UGC-NET Exam to protect the interest of students. NTA will soon announce the dates of the NET examination,” he said.

“The Committee's emphasis on recommending reforms in the examination process, enhancing data security protocols, and improving the NTA's structure and functioning will strengthen our national entrance examination system. Protecting student's interests and their future is our top priority,” he added.

Govind Rangarajan, director of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore said, “The Government has already formed a high level committee. Let's wait for all the inputs to come. We need to have patience.”

Meanwhile, Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore) director Himanshu Rai lauded the central government for removing NTA director Subodh Kumar and notifying the Public Examination Act 2024.

“Three things are important for the integrity of any exam. First is people, second is process and the third is infrastructure. The education ministry removed the NTA DG. A high-powered committee has been formed. Another very important step taken is that the Public Examination Act has been notified. A rapid response from the government is greatly appreciated. The government of India should find a long-term infrastructure solution. The swift actions taken by the central government are securing the future of students,” he said.

DU VC Yogesh Singh appealed to the students to have faith in the system.

“The government has taken proactive steps to protect the interests of the students and to protect the integrity of the examinations conducted by NTA. Students should have faith in the system. The education ministry is taking all the possible steps to ensure the future of the students. The central government is deeply concerned about students' future and is committed to ensuring the quality of their education,” he said.

Kamakoti said the government has come up with four-pronged action to stop untoward incidents.

“There have been reports of untoward incidents including leakage of the question paper. Given the circumstances, the central government has come out with a four-pronged action to stop the occurrence of such events in the future. First, a committee has been formed to suggest a process for ensuring fair and transparent examination, second thing is to establish security protocols, third is changes in NTA and fourth is putting everything into action,” he said.

“The Government has been in action every day to ensure the interests of the students and to protect the integrity of the examinations. The government has to create an ecosystem to protect against illegal dissemination of examination papers and to identify the protocol breachers. Examinations were cancelled as precautionary measures. The government wants to overhaul the entire system of NTA to conduct error-free and transparent examinations in future. Central government is committed to education and examinations, and this is evident in their decisive actions and implementation,” said Badri Narayan, director of GB Pant Social Science Institute, Prayagraj.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said that the ministry of education acted immediately.

“There have been leaks in the examination. The students have greatly suffered. But, the union government and the ministry of education did act immediately. They have put up an inquiry and also a high-power commission to look into it... The government has to take stringent actions at the systemic level. Because the leak is somewhere within the system..,” she told ANI.

Also read NEET was far from fair even before this year's grace marks, paper-leak controversies

AICTE and private institutions

The #Committed2ExamIntegrity campaign also involved private higher education institutions and All India Council for Technical Education’s (AICTE) former and current chairman.

TG Sitharam, chairman, AICTE appealed to students to remain calm.

“The recent steps taken by the government regarding NEET have sparked numerous debates and discussions. Considering the sensitivity of these examinations, I would like to appeal to all of you to maintain calmness. Steps taken by the government are very important and beneficial for all,” he said.

Anil Sahasrabudhe, former AICTE chairman and the chairman of the National Educational Technology Forum and National Board of Accreditation, said: “The education ministry constituted a high-level committee of Experts under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Former Chairman, ISRO and Chairman BoG, IIT Kanpur, to ensure transparent, smooth, and fair conduct of examinations. We hope the committee delivers the solutions to make examinations transparent and error-free,” he added.

Universities promoting Public Exam Act 2024

All the major central universities including Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and University of Hyderabad (UoH) are posting about benefits of Public Exam Act 2024.

The new law will be used against those involved in unfair means to rig recruitment exams conducted by Union Public Service Examination (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and all exams conducted by NTA.

The universities were “requested” to make these posts. “It’s for all the universities. There is nothing in this, whatever the ministry tells us we tweet and retweet on a daily basis. Not only this there are many other things that we retweet, that many other institutions retweet. It’s not just UoH all the 116 universities get it… The ministry had requested us to tweet this,” said an official from the University of Hyderabad.

NEET paper leak update

From arrests to removal of NTA DG, controversies have kept raging ever since the NTA announced the NEET-UG 2024 results on June 4.

In the latest update of the NEET-UG 2024 scam investigation, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police has arrested 5 more people in the NEET paper leak case taking the total arrests to 18. Earlier, the accused had confessed about their involvement in the paper leak.

The CBI is investigating the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam after registering an FIR on Sunday. The Supreme Court is all set to hear a batch of petitions on July 8 seeking cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 results and re-exam.

Meanwhile, Abhijat Sheth, president, NBEMS assured the student community that postponing the NEET-PG exam is a “preventive measure only, and to make the exam stronger, safe, transparent, and secure.” “We are working closely to make sure this happens soon rather than late,” he added.

Also read NEET Row: CBI team to visit Patna; may take those arrested to Delhi for questioning

Opposition attacks government over NEET

Opposition members attacked the central government over the issue. “Tamil Nadu has always been saying that we don't want NEET and wanted to be exempted from it...Today it is very clear that this exam is not really fair. Tamil Nadu has always been saying that we don't want it and now the whole country is saying this,” said DMK MP Kanimozhi.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant said, “This is a very serious issue...Paper leak matter should be taken very seriously. They have taken little action. But first the minister was denying it and saying that nothing had happened...NTA has lost its credibility. When there is no credibility, why will you conduct examinations?..."

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai said sacking NTA DG and taking action against a few officers and a handful of people is not enough. “How long has this syndicate been going on? These leaks have been happening for a long time now...What example are we setting for future generations? What legacy are we giving them? It is essential to investigate this matter deeply...The despair that this will cause among the youth will not be right for the progress of India...This is definitely the responsibility of the government..,” he said.

The central government is responsible for the NEET irregularities, said Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Mahua Maji.

“The issue of NEET is a crucial issue of the nation... Middle-class people are not able to afford expensive private medical colleges. So, they prepare for the government colleges. Then, there are such big scams in the government exams... They (the central government) have cancelled the UGC NET exam too...The state government is not responsible for it. The central government is responsible for the irregularities. It is a failure of the Education department,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Congress and its students wing National Student Union of India (NSUI) held protests across the country demanding cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 results.

Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury said, “It is our responsibility to raise the NEET issue. Lakhs of children's hard work and their parents' money were wasted. They neither can move forward nor step back. We were elected to raise the issues of people...they (central govt) can't give jobs and now they are not letting them (youth) get jobs either."