Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stated on Tuesday that the Education and Health Ministry is now considering whether to conduct the NEET-UG medical entrance exam online or on paper, and a decision is anticipated shortly. Union Minister JP Nadda has chaired two rounds of discussions between the Education Ministry and the Health Ministry.
In terms of the number of applicants, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is the most popular entrance exam in the nation. In 2024, a record over 24 lakh candidates took the exam. “The administrative ministry of NEET is the Health Ministry, and hence we are in talks with them about whether NEET should be conducted in pen-and-paper mode or online mode. We have had two rounds of talks with the Health Ministry led by JP Nadda. Whatever op…
According to the minister, a decision in this area is expected shortly, and the changes will be made for the exam’s 2025 edition. “What will be NEET’s methodology, and what will be the protocol? A decision is expected soon. We will notify it soon,” he added.
NTA conducts NEET every year for admission to medical colleges. A total of 108,000 seats are available for the MBBS course, out of which around 56,000 seats are in government hospitals and around 52,000 seats are in private colleges. Admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha are also being done on the basis of NEET results.
The idea of switching NEET to a computer-based test (CBT) method is not new; it has been discussed several times. However, the push for the exam reforms came following the paper leak controversy earlier this year. In the wake of alleged irregularities in the NEET and PhD entrance NET, the Center had constituted the panel in July to ensure the transparent, smooth, and fair conduct of the examinations by the NTA.
The high-level team led by former ISRO Chief R. Radhakrishnan stated that multi-stage testing for NEET-UG would be a good option that should be followed up. “An acceptable framework with thresholds and test objectives of scoring and ranking at each stage, and number of attempts, etc., may be evolved,” the panel has recommended in its report.
UGC-NET was canceled because the government received information that the exam’s integrity had been compromised while NEET was being investigated for a number of irregularities, including alleged leaks. Both matters are being probed by the CBI. As a measure of caution, two other tests, CSIR-UGC NET and NEET PG, were canceled.
IIT Delhi Dean of Student Affairs Aditya Mittal, People Strong co-founder and board member of Karmayogi Bharat Pankaj Bansal, Central University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor B J Rao, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras K Ramamurthy, former AIIMS Delhi director Randeep Guleria, and MoE Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal are also on the panel.
In order to improve the system’s resilience, the committee was also charged with reviewing the current security procedures related to the setting of papers and other procedures for examinations. Amey Karkare, a professor of computer science and engineering, and Debapriya Roy, an assistant professor, were both chosen as panel members from IIT Kanpur.
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