NEET Entrance Exam To Go Online From Next Year? High-Level Panel Suggests Reforms

Following the NEET-UG exam paper leak, a committee led by K. Radhakrishnan has proposed reforms to enhance security and efficiency in national entrance exams.

The NEET-UG entrance exam paper leak sparked widespread protest across the country.

Source : PTI

In a bid to curb malpractices and enhance security and efficiency in national entrance exams, a seven-member committee, led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan has recommended several reforms including conducting the exam in online or hybrid mode. 

The committee was formed following the outrage over the paper leak of the NEET-UG entrance exam earlier this year. Students had staged widespread protests against the National Testing Agency which has the task to conduct entrance examinations in the country. 

For the upcoming entrance exam, the committee has recommended holding the exam in a hybrid mode wherever possible. Under the hybrid setting, the question paper will be available digitally but answers would be written down on a paper. 

For medical students, the committee has proposed conducting examinations involving various stages. For the candidates appearing for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), the committee proposed limiting subject choices to reduce redundancy for candidates who have already completed board exams.

Some reforms at the organisational level were also recommended by the panel including recruitment of more permanent staff in the NTA. 

The panel was set up by the Centre in July to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations by NTA. The Centre had on October 21 sought two weeks time from the Supreme Court to submit the final report of the panel. 

Former AIIMS Delhi director Randeep Guleria, Central University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor B J Rao, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras K Ramamurthy, People Strong co-founder and Karmayogi Bharat board member Pankaj Bansal, IIT Delhi Dean of Student Affairs Aditya Mittal and MoE Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal were also the members of the panel. 

Two IIT Kanpur academicians — Amey Karkare, professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Debapriya Roy, assistant professor — were also opted as members by the panel.