By: Shreyansh on June 06, 2017
NEET is an exam that has had its complete share of controversies. It was conducted twice as AIPMT in 2015 due to a paper leak in multiple areas of India. All the students had to attempt the second phase of the exam without any exceptions. In 2016 after the Supreme Court's decision to cancel all the state exams, the exam was conducted in two phases for the students who had previously relied on their state exams for admission to Medical College in India.NEET was declared as the one and only pathway for all the students.This was done in a bid to remove corruption largely being practiced by the private medical colleges by charging hefty capitation fees and offering admission to undeserving candidates. This move was welcomed by all with the belief that this would increase the chances for deserving candidates. However, the states demanded an exemption for a year from NEET so as to level the syllabus and avoid unfairness to the students of the states who had only prepared for their state competitive exam.
NEET was completely implemented in 2017 for the first time and no specific state exam was conducted. However this year also, controversy hasn't left its side. It was conducted in 10 languages to put the students from different states at ease. After the exam, numerous cases have been filed in various high courts.The ‘one India-one exam ‘ policy wasn't followed by the CBSE who framed different question papers with different difficulty levels for different languages. There have been multiple protests at various places demanding a re-exam. There have been claims that the students who attempted the exam in languages other than English have been at a disadvantage.
The matter has not yet been heard by the Supreme Court. The Madras high court has scheduled a hearing on the 12th of June where the difficulty levels of different papers will be compared by the experts. The results were supposed to be announced by 8th June but with the ongoing hearings, it is next to impossible.Amidst these hearings, the high court had restrained CBSE from declaring the results till 12th June. CBSE officials did not give a definite answer but ruled out the possibility of a re-exam.Mostly the policy of moderation will be followed so that no candidate is at a disadvantage.
To top it all there were also reports of the paper being leaked in Bihar and Rajasthan although these were not verified.
Another recent development is that the NEET 2017 might be made compulsory even for the students planning to take up medical studies at a foreign university. It will now be necessary for all students going abroad for medical studies to attain a 50 percentile in India, failing which a no-objection certificate will not be given.This is being done to increase the quality of student going abroad for medical studies as less than a quarter of these students are able to clear the screening exam after their graduation.The screening exam is done by the Medical Council of India for medical students who have pursued their graduation from abroad but are willing to practice in India.
