SRINAGAR: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has denied social media claims that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 paper was leaked.
“During the NEET (UG) 2024 examination, it came to the attention of the NTA that at one examination Centre, Girls Higher Secondary Model School, Mandir, Mantown, Sawai Madhopur, there was an incident of incorrect distribution of question papers by the Center Superintendent. Despite efforts by invigilators to prevent it, some candidates left the examination centre with question papers,” NTA Senior Director Dr Sadhana Parashar said in a statement. “However, the NTA assures the public that apart from this isolated incident, the NEET (UG) 2024 examination commenced smoothly and is being conducted peacefully at all other examination centres across the country.”
The NTA said the incident has not compromised the integrity of the examination process at other centres. “In order to uphold the principles of fairness and equal opportunity for all candidates, the NTA has taken proactive measures. The examination of approximately 120 affected candidates from the Girls Higher Secondary Model School examination centre is being conducted today, 5 May 2024, ensuring that their academic aspirations are not hindered by this incident.”
An NTA officer was quoted by The Indian Express saying: “As per the rules students are only allowed to exit the hall with the question paper after the exam, but some students walked out forcefully. Due to this, the question paper was circulated on the internet around 4 pm, but by that time the exam had already started at all other centres across the country. So, there has not been any ‘leak’ of the NEET UG question paper.”
NEET UG 24 was carried out in 557 cities across India and 14 offshore cities smoothly. It was conducted from 2 pm to 5:20 pm. More than 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test including nearly 13 lakh girls. Last year, nearly two million candidates appeared for the mass examination to get into medical school. Reports suggest that 24 lakh students wrote the examination today to fill one lakh seats for medical doctors across India.
In 2023, 24744 candidates appeared for NEET and 13295 qualified in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2022, 54.21 per cent of candidates appearing from Jammu and Kashmir qualified. Last year, however, In 2023, only 53.73 per cent could qualify for the top test.
PTI reported
Distribution of wrong question papers at a NEET exam centre in Rajasthan on Sunday led to some candidates walking out with the papers, the National Testing Agency (NTA) said, claiming the integrity of the examination process was not compromised.
The exam was later reconducted for the 120 affected candidates at the centre, said Sadhna Parashar, Senior Director, NTA.
According to NTA sources, some candidates were distributed question papers in languages other than their choice of medium which prompted them to walk out of the centre.
“During NEET-UG examination, it came to attention that at one exam centre, Girls Higher Secondary Model School, Mantown, Sawai Madhopur, there was an incident of incorrect distribution of question papers by the centre superintendent. Despite efforts by invigilators to prevent it, some candidates left the exam centre with the question papers,” Parashar said.
“In order to uphold the principles of fairness and equal opportunity for all candidates, the NTA has taken proactive measures. The examination of approximately 120 affected candidates at the centre is being conducted today, ensuring that their academic aspirations are not hindered by this incident,” she added.
Several social media posts alleged the question paper was leaked. The NTA, however, denied any possibility of a leak.
This year, a record 23 lakh candidates registered for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test – Undergraduate (NEET-UG), of which over 10 lakhs were male students, over 13 lakhs were girls and 24 students registered under the third gender category.
Region-wise, Uttar Pradesh had registered the highest number of candidates at 3,39,125, followed by Maharashtra at 2,79,904 and Rajasthan at 1,96,139. Tamil Nadu saw 1,55,216 registrations and Karnataka 1,54,210.
In 2023, a total of 20,87,449 candidates had registered for NEET-UG and the exam was held on May 7. The NTA had recorded 97.7 per cent attendance in the exam.
