Will there be a NEET 2.0 for students who missed the medical entrance exam?

Parent bodies have now approached the National Testing Agency and the Ministry of Education, asking the officials to consider conducting The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test once again. Citing that a large number of students missed the examination owing to COVID, quarantine norms and lockdown restrictions, these bodies have sought for another entrance examination, before the beginning of the academic year.

At the same time, the students who have written to the NTA stating their reason for missing NEET have received responses from the agency, seeking details of the containment zones they are in. NEET was held in centres across the country on September 13. According to the NTA statistics, around 1.6 Lakh students missed the exam this year.

"Floods, COVID and lockdown have prevented a lot of students from writing the exam. Similarly, there was a case where a student travelled 700 kilometres to miss the exam by 10 minutes. We summarised their requests and have submitted it to the NTA," says Sukhpal Singh Toor, the founder of NCR Parents Association. The members of the association also went to the PMO and the Ministry of Education, raising this demand. At the same time, the NTA's email to the students makes Toor, like many other parents hopeful. "This is a positive aspect. They may be planning something," he says.

Students who missed the exam were urged by various activists and lawyers to write the NTA. "However, we do not know if this will yield a positive result," says advocate Anubha Sahai Srivastava, who heads the India Wide Parents' Association. "Apparently, not a lot of students have written to the NTA." She also says that the lawyers have filed a PIL about the same and will seek an intervention soon.

Previously, Advocate Alaakh Alok Srivastava, who represented the students in a petition to postpone JEE and NEET told Edex that he was seeking an option where students who aren't able to write the exams in September can write it at a later period. "This will sort out all the issues. A lot of students are now living in containment zones, have no option to travel or are in flood-affected areas," he then said.