SHILLONG, MAY 7: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU) on Tuesday requested the state government to ensure reconduction of the NEET examination for students from Jaintia Hills region.
In a joint letter to the Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma, the KSU and JSU said, “Without prejudice to the rights and interests of our student candidates, it is hereby requested that a re-examination of the NEET exam be conducted.”
They alleged that grave discrepancies were observed during the NEET exam conducted on May 5 at Jowai in West Jaintia Hills District.
“While we appreciate the government’s initiative to hold such exams in Jaintia Hills for the first time, we are deeply troubled by the mismanagement and distress caused to nearly 400 students, who appeared for the exam. It has come to our notice that during the exam, students were provided with two sets of question papers labelled MNOP and QRST respectively. This led to confusion among candidates and even the exam management was initially clueless about which set to attempt,” the petition said.
The petition said that subsequently, it was clarified that questions from QRST were the genuine ones, causing significant mental distress to students who had already wasted precious time attempting the MNOP set. Furthermore, despite attempts by some candidates to seek clarification from exam management, they were unsuccessful. Additionally, students were not allowed to submit their admit cards until late in the evening resulting in a rush and inconvenience. Moreover, students from far-flung villages were unable to submit their admit cards to date.
“This situation is deeply concerning as students, through no fault of their own, have been subjected to the consequences of mismanagement by untrained invigilators. The provision of multiple sets of question papers without adequate guidance and the failure to allocate extra time to compensate for the time lost after the clarification of the correct set exacerbates the issue,” the two organizations said.
They further stated that many students who appeared for the aforementioned exam invested significant time, effort, and financial resources in preparation, with the ultimate goal of security admission to medical institutions for pursuing MBBS studies.
“Therefore, in the interest of upholding fairness and ensuring equal opportunities for all candidates, a re-examination is deemed necessary to rectify the discrepancies and provide a level playing field,” they demanded while asserting that it is imperative that steps are taken to prevent such incidents from occurring again, and that well-being and interests of students are prioritized in all examination processes.