Page 66 - EW July 2024

Special Report

We will not compromise on transpar-
ency,” said Pradhan.
But the minister’s assurances
provide little comfort to the 2.4 mil-
lion school-leavers who had swotted
for months preparing for this public
exam which is the gateway for admis-
sion into the country’s prized 706
medical colleges, in particular 389
government colleges offering highly
subsidised medical education. Stu-
dents’ demonstrations are swelling
in major cities and towns and parents
are banding to file a spate of new writ
petitions for and against cancellation
of NEET-UG 2024, even as new rev-
elations of question paper leakages Pandey: NTA has no answers Tyagi: high scores fallout
and special pre-exam classes having
been held in Bihar, UP and Gujarat that NTA conducts 42 national exams but for suspicious grades inflation.
for students who paid Rs.30-40 lakh with just 426 employees. “This shows Gaurav Tyagi, founder-director
for leaked question papers, are hitting that NTA relies heavily on outsourc- of Career Xpert, a Noida-based firm
newspaper headlines every day. ing its work. These outsiders could be which provides medical college ad-
“ IT’S SHOCKING THAT THE Moreover, what is NTA’s explana- NEET-PG aspirants, says that unusu-
mission counseling to NEET-UG and
involved in leaking question papers.
ally high scores in NEET-UG 2024
NTA has mismanaged such
tion for massive grades inflation this
a high stakes examination
into the highest levels of education.
affecting over 2.4 million year? Sadly, corruption has seeped have intensified “already cut-throat
competition for MBBS (undergrad)
school-leavers. It com- Government needs to go beyond ritu- seats.”
pletely disregarded earlier warnings al cleansing of NTA to restore parents “Students in the 620-720 band who
in May of a question paper leak, and and students’ faith in NEET and other would have had no trouble getting ad-
even after students pointed out gross exams,” adds Pandey. mission into a top-ranked government
anomalies in NEET-UG 2024 results, The fallout of grades inflation in medical college of choice will have to
it failed to accept responsibility. Only NEET-UG 2024 is of enormous pro- accept admission into second and
after writ petitions were filed in the portions. In previous years, all stu- third choice colleges often far from
Supreme Court, NTA admitted to dents with NEET scores of 640-720 home. Alternatively they will have to
awarding grace marks to over 1,500 would have been ranked among top sign up with private medical colleges
students. Cancelling these grace 10,000 qualifying them for admission which will multiply their cost of edu-
marks is of no help to students and into a highly-subsidised government cation. Some students may decide to
their parents who have made huge medical college of their choice. This take a year off to prepare for NEET
sacrifices to prepare for NEET. This year, a student with a similar score 2025. Indeed, this is a cheaper option
grades inflation has left the majority is ranked in the top 30,000-40,000 than signing up with private colleges.
of students in the lurch, with admis- which rules out admission in a govern- I also expect a rise in the number of
sion cut-offs having hit the roof. NTA ment college of their choice. Indian students enrolling with medi-
has no answers also to centre fixing Moreover in 2023, only 13,911 (0.6 cal colleges in the Philippines, China,
allegations — why were students from percent) of the 2.3 million students Russia, Georgia and Ukraine. In India,
Odisha and Madhya Pradesh allotted who wrote NEET secured marks in the the five-year MBBS course in a pri-
test centers in Godhra, Gujarat, and 620-720 band. However, in NEET-UG vate medical college costs Rs.60 lakh-
not their home states?” queries Dr. 2024, the number of students in this 1.4 crore as against Rs.25-40 lakh in
Vivek Pandey, a Madhya Pradesh- score band has jumped four-fold to Georgia and the Philippines. More-
based social-political and RTI activist 58,263 (2.3 percent). Therefore the over, all this is likely to increase de-
and whistleblower, who is assisting admission cut-off of government med- pendence on coaching schools which
several NEET-UG students to file writ ical colleges has risen from 610 to 650, will see a surge in enrollment as stu-
petitions in the courts. disqualifying 30,000 students who dents look to improve their scores next
According to Pandey, an RTI ap- would have qualified for admission year,” says Tyagi.
plication he filed in 2022 revealed into low–priced government colleges Curiously, although India hosts the

66 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2024