Only a week left for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Postgraduate or NEET PG 2024 to be conducted, however, it seems like the exam centre confusion has not yet been resolved for many students.
On Sunday night, August 4, many NEET-PG 2024 candidates received emails from the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) informing them of a reallocation of their test cities. This change follows numerous requests for an increase in the number of test centres.
However, no official notice was released regarding the changes.
Dr Abhilash, a NEET-PG candidate, told EdexLive, “I received the email sometime around 8 pm on Sunday. Initially, I was assigned Gandhinagar as a test centre, which is a six-hour journey from my native place. Now, I have been re-assigned a test centre in my own state, in Jodhpur. It will now take me two to three hours to get to the exam centre. There are candidates who either did not receive an email or the email was in their spam folder, so there is still confusion among students.”
To recall, there has been a widespread outcry among the NEET-PG candidates this year as many were assigned exam centres in cities 1,000 kilometres away from their hometowns. Several candidates said that the test city they were allotted was not even from the list of four preferred cities given by them during the application process.
This was especially an issue in Kerala, and certain hilly areas like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, which have been hit by heavy rainfall and landslides.
A number of students, activists, associations and politicians wrote to the Union Health Minister JP Nadda urging for an increase in the number of test centres and allotment of test cities near students’ hometowns.
Reportedly, the number of test centres was reduced by the NBEMS in order to ensure fair conduct of the exam, especially in the wake of the NEET-UG paper leak controversy.
Now, just a week before the exam is to be conducted, a few candidates were re-allotted centres. The email sent by the NBEMS mentioned that “NBEMS has engaged more test centres to accommodate the maximum possible candidates within their States of Correspondence address.”
It further added that no changes will be considered in the re-allotted test centres.
Still in limbo…
Despite the last-minute intervention by the authorities, many NEET-PG aspirants are still unhappy with their exam centre allotment.
Dr Sadiq Hussain, an aspirant from Rajasthan, said, “While some people have managed to get a favourable test centre, most are still stuck with centres in far-away cities. Without any logic, the NBE has re-assigned the test centres in the same state. A candidate from Alwar has been assigned to a test centre in Jodhpur which is 600 km away from his residence. The cities being allotted are not from their four preferred cities either.”
On the other hand, a few candidates have not been assigned a new exam centre at all.
Dr Vaibhav Gautam, another NEET-PG 2024 candidate, expressed, “Very few students, I think mostly from Kerala, have been assigned revised test cities. Most of us are still stuck with the same exam centre.” The students from Kerala have been re-assigned exam cities owing to the devastating Wayanad landslides.
These changes have brewed more confusion among the students, as many still await an official email from NBEMS.
Financial burden
The NEET-PG exam this year has been marred with a few last-minute changes. Initially scheduled to be held on June 23, the exam was earlier postponed indefinitely, just 12 hours before it was to be conducted, following allegations of malpractice and paper leak in its undergraduate counterpart — NEET-UG. Later, it was informed that the exam would be held on August 11, in two shifts.
Now, just one week before the exam, the NBEMS re-assigned test centres to candidates.
Students have expressed concerns that these last-minute changes could impose a financial burden, as many had already booked travel and accommodation.
“Many students had booked train and flight tickets. They might not get a refund now and will need to book another ticket to the new test cities. Hotels and accommodations have also become more expensive now,” informed Dr Abhilash.
