Last minute cancellation
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: June 24, 2024 -

IT may be too early to say anything conclusively.

But the postponement of the NEET-PG entrance examination 2024 "as a precautionary measure", just hours before it was due to be held on june 23 morning, has once again raised some serious questions not only on the credibility of public examination system in the country but also on the integrity of the examination conducting agencies.

Coming as it is weeks after the results of the NEET-UG 2024 examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) sparked a major row over alleged paper leak and irregularities in the marking system of the medical entrance test and also close behind the cancellation of UGG NET Exam 2024 for June 2024 session, a day after it was claimed to have been "conducted successfully at 1205 Exam Centres in 317 cities across the country for 11,21,225 candidates" by the NTA on June 18; the last minute decision of postponing the NEET-PG 2024 has understandably caused widespread discontentment among student bodies and doctors' associations.

Terming postponement of the NEET-PG 2024 at such a short notice, when students have already travelled from all over the country and even abroad to reach their respective examination centres, as nothing less than "playing with their emotions", these student bodies and doctors' associations also feel that the education system of the country has been "destroyed".

Even if one could reason the cancellation of UGG NET Exam 2024 for June 2024 session after concerns were raised about the examination's integrity, why the NEET-PG 2024 for testing the advanced medical knowledge of students, which was all set to be conducted by National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) had been postponed and announcement of the same made just hours before it was due to be held on June 23 morning has not been explained clearly, keeping everyone in the dark.

Although NBEMS, which is an autonomous body under the Health Ministry, had issued a caution notice on June 21 warning candidates against falling prey to some fraudsters, who were trying to deceive the NEET PG candidates on social media by claiming that they could provide question papers of the, examination in exchange for a considerable sum of money, neither the Board nor the Health Ministry has mentioned anything about paper leak as the reason for postponement of the examination.

All that the Health Ministry had said in its press release announcing the postponement of NEET-PG 2024 was, "Taking into consideration the recent incidents of allegations regarding the integrity of certain competitive examinations, Ministry of Health has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of the processes of NEET-PG Entrance examination conducted by the National Board of Examinations for Medical Students.

It has accordingly decided, as a precautionary measures, to postpone the NEET-PG Entrance examination, scheduled to be held tomorrow, i.e. 23rd June, 2024. Fresh date of this examination will be notified at the earliest."

So, the Health Ministry needs to explain the urgency of rescheduling the NEET-PG Entrance examination if there was no paper leak.

Saying that it "sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to the students" and that the "decision has been taken in the best interest of the students and to maintain the sanctity of the examination process" may not work at all at this juncture when students across the country are agitated.

Apart from the fact that the conduct of NEET-PG entrance examination has been repeatedly delayed in the last few years due to various reasons including the outbreak of Corona virus pandemic, the sudden postponement of the examination with no plausible explanation given is going to put more stress on the students, whose aspirations of joining a job or continuing further medical studies has been slighted, yet again.