NEW DELHI — The Centre has decided against conducting the medical entrance exam
NEET-UG in online mode for now, and announced on Thursday it will continue to
be conducted in pen and paper mode.
The decision comes after detailed deliberations between
education and health ministries on whether to conduct the NEET-UG in pen and
paper mode or online mode.
"As decided by the National Medical Commission(NMC),
the NEET-UG shall be conducted in Pen and paper mode (OMR based) in a single
day and shift," a senior National Testing Agency (NTA) official said on
Thursday.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is the
largest entrance exam in the country in terms of number of candidates appearing
for the test. In 2024, a record more than 24 lakh candidates took the exam.
The NTA conducts the NEET every year for admission into
medical colleges. A total of 1,08,000 seats are available for MBSS course.
Of the seats available for the MBBS course, approximately
56,000 are in government hospitals and about 52,000 in private colleges.
Admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha
also utilise the results of the NEET for admission.
The idea of switching to Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode for
NEET is not new and has been deliberated several times before. However, the
push for the exam reforms came following the paper leak controversy last year.
In the line of fire over alleged irregularities in NEET and
PhD entrance NET, the Centre had in July set up the panel to ensure
transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations by NTA.
According to the high-level panel headed by former ISRO
Chief R Radhakrishnan, multi-stage testing for NEET-UG could be a viable
possibility that needs to be followed up.
While NEET was under the scanner over several
irregularities, including alleged leaks, UGC-NET was cancelled last year as the
ministry received inputs that the integrity of the exam had been compromised.
Both matters are being probed by the CBI.
