By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The government is sensitive to the hard work of students. Addressing an important press conference in New Delhi on Friday, Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that steps will be taken to give full rights to the meritorious students in the national interest and in the interest of the country. Minister Shri Pradhan made a big announcement that from next year, the NEET exam will be conducted in Computer Based Test or CBT mode instead of OMR sheet to bring transparency in the examination system.
Shri Pradhan expressed the strong commitment of the Union Government to ensure transparency, fairness and security of the students in the conduct of NEET examination. He said that the NEET examination was held on 3rd May. An objection was received through the grievance redressal mechanism of the National Testing Agency (NTA) that some of the questions of ‘gas papers’ available in the market were similar to the original question paper of this year. Taking this seriously, the Higher Education Department and NTA immediately conducted a preliminary review and referred the matter to the concerned agencies of the Government of India. It was confirmed by coordinating with the agencies of various states that the real exam question paper was leaked in the guise of ‘gas papers’.
Shri Pradhan said, “We have taken the stern decision to cancel the examination so that no eligible and brilliant student is deprived of his/her rights due to the machinations of education mafia or fraudsters. Every recommendation of the ‘Radhakrishnan Committee’, which was formed after the earlier irregularities, was followed verbatim for the years 2025 and 2026. However, the government has taken it seriously as such an unfortunate incident has occurred. The government has urged all the candidates to prepare for the re-examination with patience.”
All steps are being taken to maintain complete transparency in the conduct of the exams and take strict action against the culprits. The Education Minister has made it clear that we have ‘zero tolerance’ for wrongdoing and this is a long fight against the exam mafia. No culprit will be spared in the CBI investigation. Strict action will be taken against the education mafia.
The government and the NTA have announced some major reforms to address the concerns of students and their parents. The NEET re-examination will be held on June 21. Students will not have to pay any fee for the re-examination. The fees paid earlier will be refunded and the examination will be completely free. Candidates will once again be able to choose the examination city of their choice. For this, the NTA will give a week’s time. The examination time has been increased by 15 minutes. Earlier, the examination was from 2 pm to 5 pm, but now it will go on till 5.15 pm. The central government will discuss with the state governments for the transportation facilities of the candidates. The minister himself will talk to the chief ministers. He said that all the candidates will be issued admit cards by June 14.
He further said that all the flaws in the NT will be rectified and it will be ensured that it is ‘zero flaw’. We are all very sad and worried for the candidates, but we had to take this difficult decision in the interest of the nation and the rights of the meritorious. We will not allow any wrongdoing this time. He urged everyone not to believe in any rumours or misinformation and urged them to prepare for the exam with patience.
