NEET Exam Row: Time to restore credibility and confidence, take steps to combat irregularities

The shocking news of irregularities in various recruitment exams is being received continuously across the country. Corruption and high tech cheating in exams ranging from porter, sanitation worker, constable and police inspector to administrative officers is unbelievable for all of us. Words like solver, dummy candidate, paper leak gang, have now become a part of the common language of the people. The irregularities in the recent exams like NEET UG and UGC NET and the delusional conduct of the examining agency NTA is startling. Now the big question in everyone’s mind is cannot there be a transparent, competent and fair system in the country to make the hard work of the candidates a reality and to select the best talents for the country which it deserves?

Feigning Ignorance

This time the NEET UG exam is in serious controversy. No one could accept the fact that 67 students secured the first position at the same time. Some students obtained 719 out of 720 which is impossible by any strech of imagination as one question carries four marks, not attempting it will yield the maximum score of 716 . It was also found that there was some fraud at a centre in Gujarat, while the Bihar Police investigation revealed the confession of some candidates, who accepted that the question paper was leaked and they crammed the answers with the help of a gang. The exam conducting agency NTA misled the nation with a bundle of lies that there isn’t any problem in the NEET exam. On the other hand, police of two States confirmed irregularities and made arrests. When the issue of cheating at the exam centre surfaced, NTA turned a blind eye and tried unsuccessfully to wash its hands off the matter by giving unique arguments like “grace marks”. Due to the strong protest of many scholars, social organisations, students and parents from across the country and a petition in the Supreme Court, NTA reluctantly constituted an internal investigation committee. Day after UGC-NET, the eligibility test for researchers and assistant professors in the University system also went viral on the social media app Telegram. Consequently, the exam was cancelled.

Meanwhile, a piece of shameful news came that bribes worth lakhs of rupees were taken in the recruitment of labourers, maids, coolies and peons in Karnataka.

New Organised Crime

All these things are the beginning of a new organised crime flourishing in the country, which is spreading rapidly with the abuse of technology. On the other hand, a “crisis of credibility” of the examination institutions has jolted the minds of crores of youth in the country, which is an issue of utmost concern.

Defeating Purpose of Exam

The question here is not only about one agency NTA, but many institutions of India such as the State Public Service Commission, Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission, etc. which select administrators, learned professors, doctors, engineers, etc. for the country. Therefore, in the people-centric system of the nation , it is inevitable that the selection process be transparent, competent, fair, trustworthy and secure enough. In the fuss over paper leaks, the fundamental fact didn’t catch the attention of the media that these exams suffer from some serious and fundamental structural flaws. Every year, innocent candidates and the nation have to suffer its consequences in some form or the other. Inappropriate difficulty level of questions in the examination, irrational bias towards English and disregard of Indian languages in competitive exams, arbitrary and wrong questions, erroneous answer keys, incomprehensible translation of question papers, lack of coherence between the exam pattern and service requirements etc. ultimately defeat the purpose of the examination. Many times the institutions conducting the exam do not accept their blatant mistakes and the students are not in a state to approach the courts to fight against powerful institutions, consequently the mistake becomes legitimised.

The problems of conducting fair and proper competitive exams in a country like India with a large population is multi-dimensional. As a solution, there is a need to initiate a national discourse about the state of competitive examinations and their efficacy and relevance. An efficient examination system, timely conduction of the exams and declaration of undisputed result, periodic review of the examination pattern by experts are the needs of the hour. As far as NTA is concerned, it has to be restructured with appropriate amendments in its functions, redistribution of executive powers and its decentralisation. Functions and responsibilities of NTA board members have to be redefined as they are only serving ceremonial purposesy. Core functions like printing of question paper, transportation etc should not be outsourced to private firms. Experts, who have been controller of examination in UPSC or State PSC or institutions of unblemished repute, must be given key responsibilities in its functioning. The process of allocating centres should get rid of any manipulation which caused havoc this year and in past as well. Experts should be invited for setting norms for question papers and moderation and overall protocol for every facet of the examination process like printing, transportation, safety, security and distribution of question papers, protocol at exam centres, monitoring of the whole process and ascertaining the responsibility of functionaries in case of any issue .

Few lessons must be learnt from CBSE, the erstwhile agency for conducting all India pre medical tests. Sometime ago, when the question paper of the All India PMT exam reached the hands of 13 students in 2004 and 44 students in 2015, CBSE cancelled the exam. Therefore, it would be appropriate to re-conduct this exam by restoring the credibility of the examination system among students and the public at large. The Government has sacked Director General NTA and ordered a CBI probe and has enacted stringent law to prevent cheating and paper leaks which is commendable. We have to understand that the root cause of all these problems is the crisis of character and integrity. If somebody became a solver or some gang leaked the paper, definitely someone is there to pay him a huge amount of money. It is ironic that most of the solvers are the students who have cracked the exam with brilliant scores. The ultimate solution of this problem lies in character building and value-based education and all of us have to give our best effort and contribute to this pious goal .