NTA, has once again, failed over two million medical students in the country, and has posed further stumbling blocks in their career journeys already full of societal, emotional and financial impediment.
NEET 2026, conducted on 4th May across 5000+ exam centres in the country, on 12th May, was cancelled all over. The anomalies in the examination, wherein 135-odd questions, as part of the sample papers widely distributed in cities, including, Nasik, Sikar, and several others, exactly matched the ones in the May 4th examination.
This wasn't the first time medical students in the country were plunged into a distressing anxiety. In 2024 as well, NTA had made a mockery out of the exam with numerous absurdities. A total of 67 students getting a perfect score and securing an AIR-1, was one of the reasons the exam couldn't really separate the chaff from the wheat in a purely transparent and logical manner.
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| Image: AI |
Following the students uproar across the country, and rightly so, taking swift action, the education minister and the NTA chairperson, this time, asked for a re-exam with no additional registration fee, slow claps; promised of going online from next year, fingers crossed; handed over the investigation to CBI, thank God; and quite ironically assured the students of punishing the ‘real’ perpetrators, please do!
Five no-nonsense lessons:
1. Punish those accountable for the entire debacle from the apex to the ground, even those who are a tad bit involved in the entire deplorable chapter. Induct, on priority, scholarly and principled professionals in the education ministry and its organs.
2. NTA has lost the trust in the minds of students and how! No human can win the hearts of people failing them thrice, let alone a govt agency. Time to revamp the testing giant, set benchmarks in excellence, and roll out new, sensible policies. A disciplinary surgery on the complete line of administration is a must to win back the lost trust.
3. Show the world the true faces of the real perpetrators. Convict the criminals, committing the most heinous educational crimes. And let the world be well-aware of the faces and identities of those who inflicted much misery into their lives. Complete the investigation in a transparent manner. Don't leave the burning questions unanswered.
4. Two million students for a little over 2k-odd AIIMS, and over 60k-odd govt medical seats – this cutthroat competition and near impossible chance for even the most intellectual and deserving minds should go. Develop new colleges and introduce more courses of the same stature as the existing. Drastically expand the ecosystem of ‘legacy institutions’.
5. Make the political leaders, bureaucrats, and the examiners attend the classes on morality; while the students on mental resilience. Upon evaluation, former, fire the laggards; latter, provide steadfast support and counseling to the weak.
No country out there has become truly developed unless it has invested handsomely in its education sector. With the standards of the premier medical entrance examination in the country in tatters, India really needs to get its educational landscape in order, before the clutch of internal, institutional headwinds create further damage.