SHILLONG: In an ardent plea to the Meghalaya government, the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU) have called for the reconduction of the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in Jowai, Jaintia Hills.
Alleging “grave discrepancies” in the exam conduct, both student bodies have penned a joint letter to Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma, underscoring confusion surrounding two sets of question papers, which, they claim, inflicted severe “mental distress” upon over 400 candidates during Sunday’s examination.
“During the exam, students were provided with two sets of question papers – MNOP and QRST. This led to confusion among candidates and even the exam management was initially clueless about which set to attempt. Subsequently, it was clarified that questions from QRST were the genuine ones, causing significant mental distress to students who had already wasted precious time attempting the MNOP set,” the missive addressed to Education Minister Sangma outlined.
Despite attempts by certain candidates to seek clarification from exam authorities, their endeavours proved futile, the student bodies further highlighted.
Additionally, the student bodies claimed that many candidates encountered delays in submitting their admit cards until late evening, causing inconvenience and a last-minute rush.
Additionally, students from remote villages are yet to submit their admit cards, the letter read.
“Without prejudicing the rights and interests of our student candidates, we respectfully request a re-examination of the NEET exam,” the letter continued.
This is the first time the NEET exams were conducted in Jaintia Hills.
Meanwhile, contrary to social media speculations, the NTA, in a statement issued on Monday, dismissed all claims of question paper leaks.
“NTA’s security protocols and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) confirm that social media assertions regarding paper leaks are entirely baseless. To dispel rumours, it is affirmed that every single Question Paper has been meticulously accounted for,” the NTA statement clarified.
On Sunday, NEET (UG) 2024 was successfully conducted by the NTA across 4750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 cities abroad.
