NEET Scam: Experts suggest better use of technology, further centralization of exam’s management

NEW DELHI: The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the single exam that regulates admission into undergraduate medicine, was meant to end corruption in medical education.

In September, as yet another jaw-dropping scandal broke in the world of medicine it became obvious that the NEET is still at some distance from achieving its objective.

The “NEET impersonation scam”, involving a Tamil Nadu student, his doctor father, an impersonator from Karnataka and a conspirator from Kerala, broke out with the arrest of a first-year student of Theni Government Medical College in Tamil Nadu on September 25 for allegedly clearing the NEET by paying an impersonator to writing his exam in Mumbai. More such alleged cheats were identified as the case ballooned to involve more colleges, students and parents. By mid-October, the Tamil Nadu Crime Branch’s Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) had made 10 arrests.

Those who had opposed the NEET and the centralisation of medical admission it brought over in 2016 and 2017, feel vindicated. Others, however, maintain that NEET is the only way to tackle corruption and that its processes must be strengthened with technology.

Every year lakhs of candidates appear for the exam. In 2019, over 14.10 lakh candidates wrote the test of whom 7,97,042 qualified. The number of seats across the country at present is 76,928.

The scam

On September 11 and 13, 2019, the Theni Government Medical College in Theni, Tamil Nadu, received two emails alleging its student, KV Udit Surya, 20, had passed NEET through impersonation. On September 18, the first police case was filed against Surya on a complaint filed by the Theni Government Medical College dean. Surya’s photo in his college application did not match with the one on his NEET scorecard. Later the student’s father, a government doctor and an “agent” based out of Kerala, was arrested on charges of impersonation.

Simultaneously, a massive verification exercise was launched on the orders of the Madras High Court. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the NEET, was directed to hand over thumb impressions of all 4,250 students who were admitted to various MBBS courses in Tamil Nadu this year to the CB-CID.

The NEET’s very inception is related to scams. It was first introduced in 2013 in response to the massive admissions scam in Madhya Pradesh which had the Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board) or Vyapam at its heart. It was scrapped right after but reintroduced in 2016. In 2015, its precursor, the All India Pre-Medical Test had to be nullified after its questions paper was leaked in 10 states.

Advanced technology

Anand Rai, the whistleblower in the Vyapam scam, feels the only solution is the use of high-end technology. “The only solution is having iris scanners,” he says. “What I suggest is this: while filling up the application the iris should be scanned and again during admission. The NEET should continue to be as it is but the implementation should be taken care of. I am totally not for state-based results.”

MC Mishra, former director, All India Institute for Medical Sciences, Delhi, agreed. “I think the only way to deal with it is using more technology to …verify (the identities of) those who are appearing for the exam,” he says. “Some mechanism needs to be evolved to avoid even an odd incident. More CCTV surveillance (the system should be in place) so that every candidate gets covered at all the centres. If we leave it to humans, then chances are less that these things will stop.”

Taking the help of cyber security could deter malpractices, said doctors.

The new law governing medical education also mandates an exit test – the National Exit Exam or NEXT – that a student of medicine must qualify to be allowed to practice. This is expected to ensure only the most capable doctors are inducted into the profession and also discourage corruption. However, relying on the NEXT means waiting five years for students who have cheated their way into the system and, in some cases, benefitted from taxpayer-subsidised education, to be weeded out.

State problem

Some doctors pointed out that the bulk of the corruption has occurred at the state level. While it is a single exam, the counselling process which determines where a student finally goes, is two-tiered. There’s a central-level counselling overseen by the Directorate General of Health Services for centrally-run institutions and seats in the 15 percent central quota in state ones. The states hold their own counselling for the rest of the 85 percent state seats.

“The things that are happening are at the level of the state, we will have to figure out how to handle this,” says Siddharth Ramji, ex-superintendent, Medical Council of India. He added that the malpractices may not be limited to Tamil Nadu and more cases are likely to emerge elsewhere. “It has to be addressed by both the state and the Centre together,” he continues. “(The) implementing agencies (are) the central government and the state governments….(However, the problems are with) the state seats not the central quota seats.”

Gulshan Garg of Sankalp Trust, the Delhi-based non-profit that been part of the Supreme Court cases in support of NEET since 2012, says: “The way NEET was designed is absolutely fine, but there are a few loopholes in its implementation. But things are being taken care of now and things are gradually improving. Things should be fine during the next exam.” He believes technology must be used more effectively and that everything about the NEET must be centralised to prevent such corruption, including the counselling.

States answer back

However, a section of doctors and education activists, several of them from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, believes the exact opposite. They feel there should be some kind of filter at the state level for admission to medical colleges.

“The thing is that they are imposing a single pattern all over India,” says Harpreet Singh Bhatti, former president of AIIMS Resident Doctors Association. “As a country, we have different education systems and they have their own requirements of doctors in their own way. And if a person from the other states needs a good rank, they have to take the help of a coaching institute. NEET is definitely not at all acceptable to many of us.”

Bhatti advocates a return to the system that existed before NEET, when each state was free to conduct its own test for the state seats, such as Karnataka, or not hold tests at all, like Tamil Nadu.

Chennai-based education activist, Prince Gajendra Babu, emphasizes on school education and the marks obtained in the Class 12 exam the criteria for admitting students. Examinations like NEET only encourage commercialization and promote coaching institutes, he argues. It can’t prevent corruption.

“If you are really into technology, even the criminal will use technology. So, technology is not the answer, school education is the answer,” he says. “NEET has failed totally. We will produce quality doctors if we reduce commercialization. The coaching institutes are charging huge amounts from students which only the rich can afford.”

There has been controversy also over the cut-off marks, or minimum marks required for qualifying the NEET. Since admission is granted by considering percentiles, even single digit scores have been found to have translated into high percentiles and led to seats for the candidates who earned them.

“There have been reports of students getting medical seats with single digit marks,” says Vasudehendra N, a medical professional. “Instead of national-level NEET, the earlier system of AIMPT and state-wise entrance test is better for both students and parents,” he added.

Severe punishment is the answer

Experts also feel that severe punishment for those caught in such scams will go a long way in bringing transparency to the system.

“Those identified with impersonating and those involved, all should be punished. Every case should come to a conclusion,” Mishra says. He further adds that cases not reaching a conclusion that strikes at the root of the issue is the “main problem”.

However, the scams haven’t dulled the optimism of students. “I have total faith in the NEET conducting authority,” says Srirupa Bhattacharjee, a Delhi student who will appear for NEET in 2020. “They will look into what happened this year and in the past. It will not happen because there is so much of awareness and a lot of media coverage. The NTA will be careful that such incidents do not happen again.”

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