SHILLONG, May 7: The Khasi Students’ Union and the Jaintia Students’ Union have asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to re-conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) following alleged irregularities surrounding the test conducted in Jowai, Jaintia Hills.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma responded to the demand by assuring that the matter has been taken up with the central agency.
Taking to social media, he said that since a national agency conducts the NEET, reports of discrepancies in various parts of the state have been forwarded to it for review.
The demand to conduct NEET again arose after allegations of “grave discrepancies” during Sunday’s examination, as highlighted in a joint letter the two students’ bodies submitted to Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma earlier in the day.
The letter underscored the confusion from the distribution of two sets of question papers labelled MNOP and QRST.
The students’ bodies said the confusion caused distress in more than 400 candidates as they were initially unsure about which set to attempt. It was later clarified that the QRST set contained genuine questions, leaving the students who had started the MNOP set by then, feeling anxious and disadvantaged.
Despite efforts by some candidates to seek clarification from the exam authorities, the students’ bodies claimed that their attempts were in vain, exacerbating the situation.
Additionally, the letter pointed out delays in the submission of admit cards by many candidates until late in the evening, resulting in inconvenience and a last-minute rush. The students from remote villages are yet to submit their admit cards, the letter said.
“Without prejudicing the rights and interests of our students, we respectfully request a re-examination of the NEET exam,” the letter said.
The NEET was conducted in Jaintia Hills for the first time.
NEET discrepancies in Ri-Bhoi
UDP MLA from Nongpoh, Mayralborn Syiem on Tuesday expressed concern over the alleged irregularities surrounding the NEET in Ri-Bhoi.
Stating that reports of wrong questions papers being given to the candidates have also emerged from Jaintia Hills, Syiem said that such goof-up amounts to harassment to the students appearing the examinations and also the parents.
He urged the state government to take up the issue with the NTA and ensure that no such mistake recurs.
Students are in uproar after learning that they had written what has been claimed to be the wrong paper set supplied by the Examination Code Centre.
The incident was reported to have occurred at the code centre identified by the NTA as Alpha English Higher Secondary School in Nongpoh.
