In Chandigarh, only two candidates registered for the test again, none of them turned up.The Jhajjar centre, which came under the scanner as several high-rankers emerged from there, registered 58% attendance, with 287 out of 494 candidates retaking the test.
A senior NTA The official said, “At least 52%, 813 out of 1,563 candidates, appeared for the retest on Saturday. No candidate appeared in Chandigarh, while the number was 291 in Chhattisgarh, one in Gujarat, 287 in Haryana, and 234 in Meghalaya.
The NTA said that based on its inputs, 17 candidates who appeared for the examination on May 5 from centers in Bihar were rejected. “This takes the total number of rejected candidates from this year’s exam to 110,” added the NTA official.
The body had earlier rejected 63 candidates for using unfair methods in the examination. On Saturday, 30 additional candidates from Godhra Gujarat were rejected.
A total of 67 students have secured a perfect score of 720 in the NEET-UG exam, which is unprecedented in the history of NTA, with six of the centers in Haryana’s Faridabad being on the list, raising suspicions of irregularities. It was revealed that the grace mark contributed to 67 students with the highest rank. Later, the Supreme Court ordered cancellation of the mercy mark and gave the option of re-testing.
Close to 24 lakh candidates appeared for the NEET-UG exam, which was held on May 5 at 4,750 centres. Originally expected to be on June 14, the result was announced on June 4 as the evaluation of answer sheets was completed.
Exam failure hits hard: Odisha girl travels 600km, J&K doctor spends Rs12k on hotel, travel
Some don’t know, some aren’t sure what to believe, so they get there, and some hope to find the answer to the next question – what is the next exam date?
No clarity whatsoever was offered. In that space, each candidate echoes the other’s confusion and anxiety, and the ever-increasing drudgery of the academic calendar fades away. Anger was directed at the National Testing Agency (NTA), which many candidates called “irresponsible”.
Among the 2 lakh candidates who will sit for the NEET-PG, there are many who have traveled far and followed their dreams carefully to reach the exam center – like Neha Tabassum, who came to Noida from Jammu with her husband, spending Rs 12,000. on tickets and hotels, the money goes down the drain. “I found that the exam was postponed only when I went to the center in the morning. It took two years of preparation, and this will be the second attempt. Is this the arrangement of the exam? It’s frustrating,” he said.
Sunanda Pansari, who came to the exam center in Bhubaneswar from Kalahandi in Odisha, 600km away, said it was exasperating that the exam date had been changed four times. “This is very wrong. I have traveled 600km to take the exam. We should have been informed at least 24 hours before about the decision. Also there is no information (from the government) about the paper leak now,” he said, referring to the NEET-UG fiasco.
K Nageswara Rao, whose son will take the exam in Visakhapatnam, traveled 200km to reach the Andhra Pradesh capital from East Godavari. “It was a bolt from the blue,” he said of the sudden cancellation. “No one knows when the next exam will be held. My son stopped working to prepare for a year. Now he is not sure what to do, go back to work immediately or wait until the date of the exam is announced again,” he said.
Sankha Mandal, a medical officer with the railways who will appear for NEET-PG at a center in Kolkata, is also confused. “It is very difficult to prepare for a tough competitive exam while working full-time. Waiting for the next date is not always painful,” he said.
Outside iON Digital Zone in Noida, one of the exam venues in Delhi-NCR, K Murli from Bangalore, who has stayed in Delhi to prepare for NEET PG, said the exam date has been changed thrice and uncertainty has caused it. increased stress levels. “The first date for NEET PG this year was March 3, then it was postponed to July 7 and again to June 23. Now, it has been postponed until further notice, this time just 12 hours before the exam. This uncertainty is extremely stressful. The system and examination management should be considered from the students’ point of view,” he said.
Lambasting the NTA, whose director general Subodh Singh was sacked by the government on Saturday evening as the nodal examining body grappled with the crisis, Atul, an MBBS graduate from Delhi, asked, “How can one pursue academics in such a shaky and flawed scenario? This is the third main examination which was canceled within a week after UGC-NET and CSIR-UGC NET.
Another MBBS graduate, Ankit, who lives in Ghaziabad, said he quit his job just to prepare for NEET PG. “I am shocked by the uncertainty surrounding national exams like NEET,” he said.
Neelam Upadhyay, a resident of Delhi, was aware of the delay but felt incredulous until she saw it for herself because of so much misinformation. So, he landed in central Noida. “I came only to check whether the news about the exam cancellation is real or fake news,” he said.
Renu Aggarwal, the chief medical superintendent of a district hospital in Noida was also present, not as a representative of the government but as a mother. His son will appear in NEET PG. “If they want to postpone the exam for security reasons, they should have done it earlier, giving time to the students. Many students were harassed because of this sudden change,” he said.
Ankita, a candidate from Gurgaon, said the delay was annoying, but “this is better than rewriting the paper, if there is a paper leak”.
Outside the exam center in Jaipur, Yash Dubey, a practicing doctor, pointed out that the delay would prove costly for some candidates. “There are many candidates who opt for Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI-CET) counseling to get PG seats in AIIMS. Those who get seats through INI-CET but give up have to pay Rs 3 lakh. Now, with the delay in NEET- PG, candidates who are thinking to increase their rank and get a seat in their desired course in AIIMS should take a seat in any course they have got through INI-CET. This will at least guarantee them a PG seat. But later, if they get that course wanted through NEET-PG, he has to vacate the INI-CET seat, and for this, he has to pay Rs 3 lakh. How fair is this?” he asked.
(With inputs from Uma Mahesh in Vizag, Nirupa Vatyam in Hyderabad, Suparna Roy in Jaipur and Poulami Roy in Kolkata)