The primary purple flag that indicated the medical examination NEET-UG might have been compromised got here when it grew to become identified that over 1,500 college students got grace marks.

However why was this so?

Sources within the Schooling Ministry mentioned grace marks have by no means been the norm for “lack of examination time”. To compensate for time constraints, the format really helpful growing time, however by no means to permit grace marks which got subjectively.

The eventual retest for over 1,500 college students who got grace marks in NEET-UG; the cancellation of the UGC-NET for educating posts in larger schooling, and the postponement of the NEET-PG only a day earlier than it was to be held – all these level at gaps in how the Nationwide Testing Company (NTA) labored, sources have mentioned.

The NEET-PG is run by the Nationwide Board of Examinations underneath the Well being Ministry.

Schooling ministry sources mentioned the federal government is trying to implement each vital reform within the NTA earlier than the subsequent cycle of exams start in 2025. They mentioned the NTA may even see whether or not NEET may be held a number of instances or simply annually, aside from chalking out finest practices.

The Centre changed the NTA Director Common Subodh Kumar Singh with retired Indian Administration Service (IAS) officer Pradeep Singh Kharola, a transfer which sources mentioned sought to save lots of the NTA’s credibility.

Sources mentioned college students’ confidence within the NTA had diminished following the controversies.

“The NTA did not guarantee candidates. There was no provision to offer grace marks. That is the primary time grace marks have been given to candidates. As per the foundations, the candidates ought to have been given additional time if there was a while loss. After which the grace marking was finished by means of the odd methodology,” an Schooling Ministry supply mentioned.

The NTA had awarded grace marks to 1,564 candidates resulting from lack of examination time. It mentioned it adopted the identical normalisation system that had been authorized by the Supreme Court docket within the CLAT in 2018, when the same state of affairs arose. The NTA later withdrew these grace marks.

The retest was held in the present day for 1,563 college students, out of which 813 or 52 per cent college students turned up.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a brand new case and brought over the investigation.