A third-party review on the day of NEET undergraduate examination on May 5 has revealed a lot of lapses in the manner in which the test was held. This includes, absence of the mandated CCTVs in exam rooms and strong rooms where question papers were stored not being “secured by guard.” According to an Indian Express report, the National Testing Agency (NTA) that conducts NEET-UG was officially informed of the review findings on June 16.
The report stated that the review was conducted on the day of the examination by a third party who visited 399 exam centres. Of the more than 4,000 centres, these centres were selected based on several factors, including infrastructure, number of candidates, accessibility among others. The review was conducted to see if all the guidelines are followed and identify malpractices, if any. According to the report, the checklist of things to verify includes if jammers are functioning, physical security, frisking as per requirement, and presence of adequate invigilators.
The report of the review reportedly states that of the 399 centres, 186 (46%) did not have two working CCTV cameras in each exam room, and in 68 centres (16%), the strong rooms were not guarded by security guards. Further, in 83 centres, the staff at the centres were different from the designated staff for the respective centres.
The NTA has been criticised heavily for alleged malpractices in the NEET-UG examination, and because the results were announced on June 4, the same day of the Lok Sabha election results. The other controversies include 67 students getting the perfect score of 720/720 and some candidates getting 718 or 719. While the NTA attributed this to awarding grace marks to students who lost time during the exam among other things. Further, the NTA is also facing allegations of a question paper leak in Bihar and 13 persons are arrested in this regard.
