No proposal to conduct NEET UG exam twice a year: Government tells Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) and the National Medical Commission (NMC) have no proposal to conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET UG) twice a year, Bharati Pravin Pawar, minister of state (MoS) in the ministry of health and family welfare said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The minister was responding to a question raised by the Member of Parliament (MP) Ramesh Chand Bind on whether the government proposes to conduct NEET UG exam on the pattern of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main to provide two chances in a year “to save NEET aspirants from stress and depression in cracking the difficult competition in single attempt only or lose one precious year.”

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Bind had also asked from which session the government will start conducting the exam twice, if considering so and whether it has formed a committee on it. He further asked whether the government is planning to conduct a single exam and from which session.

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Replying to the question, the minister said, "Section 14 of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, 2019 mandates for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to be conducted as a common/ uniform entrance test for admission to the undergraduate and postgraduate courses in all medical institutions in the country.”

“NEET is a historic reform promoting meritocracy and providing opportunity to meritorious students to get admission in the best medical institutions in the country. It has resulted in curbing malpractices in medical admission, greater transparency and reducing the burden on prospective students of appearing in multiple entrance exams,” Pawar added.