The recent decision of the Supreme Court to stop ordering a retest of the undergraduate edition of this year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) should not be seen as validation of their work by the central government and the National Testing Agency (NTA). The court rejected multiple petitions demanding a NEET-UG 2024 retest because of alleged paper leaks and other malpractices. Even though the SC has refused to order the conduct of a retest, there is no denying that the whole episode has hit the morale of students hard. The fear of malpractices and paper leaks will continue to haunt students in the years to come.
During the hearings in the court, a string of revelations by the media, the Bihar Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation underscored a pattern of malpractice and flouting of norms that allowed several localised leaks benefitting scores of students. The central government and the NTA cannot wash off their hands citing the SC judgement. They will have to come out with a proper plan to conduct future exams without any controversies. The future of the students should not be played with. The onus lies with the NTA and the central government to win back the trust of students by conducting corruption-free examinations.