Tomorrow, August 9, the Supreme Court is set to hear a petition on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Postgraduate (NEET PG) admissions, calling for the exam postponement.
The petition, titled “Vishal Soren @ Bishal Soren & Ors. v. National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences” also calls for the exam to be conducted in a single batch, and the exam centres to be allotted in the candidates’ home states.
However, the question remains — will the petition, which will be heard by the Supreme Court just a day ahead of the exam, stand?
EdexLive spoke to medical education experts, to learn more about what to expect from tomorrow’s hearing.
The petition filed too late
Many experts agree that the petitioners approached the Supreme Court at the last minute, which could work against their case.
They argue that even if the Supreme Court argued in favour of postponement, the decision might not go down with a few aspirants.
“Several NEET PG aspirants are tired of the mismanagement of the exam by NBEMS and don’t want the exam to be postponed a second time,” says Dr Dhruv Chauhan, National Council Coordinator of the Indian Medical Association - Junior Doctors’ Network (IMA-JDN).
He adds, “In most cases, where students appearing for an exam approached the courts regarding issues in the said exam at the last minute, the cases were always dismissed”.
However, medical activist Dr Vivek Pandey opines that the Supreme Court must consider the petition, as the prayers of the students are genuine.
“The demands are not sensational or meant to generate controversy. Due to faraway centres, especially now that there are landslides and other extreme weather conditions, students are finding it difficult to travel,” he says.
He adds that this is being worsened because of the NBEMS’ late announcement of the exam centres.
NEET counsellor Gaurav Tyagi doesn’t discount the Supreme Court directing the NBEMS to postpone NEET PG either.
“When the exam could be postponed merely 10 hours ahead of schedule, what could go wrong if it is done 48 hours earlier?” he asks.
SC might find middle ground
Tyagi further claims that the Supreme Court’s verdict would be a “win-win situation” for both the aspirants and the NBEMS.
“I think that the Supreme Court would question the NBEMS about their decision to allocate far away centres and conduct the exam in two shifts – especially when the Prime Minister’s Office in 2017 ordered all NBEMS exams to be held in a single shift,” he says.
He further adds that it would be best for all parties involved if the Supreme Court would direct the NBEMS to allot centres closer to the candidates’ residence, or at least, in the same district.
Students in distress
All experts agree that the motivation behind this petition is the distress faced by the candidates due to how the NEET PG exam has been conducted so far.
“The NBEMS has postponed NEET PG several times and has been changing the test city allocations abruptly. Such logistical issues, coupled with discrepancies in other exams like NEET UG have made students tensed and angry with the government,” says Dr Vivek Pandey.
Adding to this, Gaurav Tyagi says, “Today, students are unable to travel to their test cities as the train and flight ticket fares have increased monumentally. Even accommodation prices have shot up from Rs 2,000 to Rs 8,000.” He adds that these circumstances make it impossible for students to appear for the exam peacefully.
Too much mismanagement by NBEMS
The NBEMS is responsible for a lot of mismanagement in its conduct of NEET PG this year, and must be questioned for it, says career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi.
“Since the beginning of this year, the NEET PG was postponed twice and pushed ahead once. Now, the NBEMS allotted far away test cities to the candidates. These allotted cities were even changed arbitrarily for a few candidates, as recently as yesterday (August 7),” he says.
Due to this, he says, there is confusion and tension among aspirants, which is also affecting their preparation.
“NEET PG candidates are not children; they are qualified doctors. Most of them start their preparation in the final year and have to balance it with their internships. Such back-and-forth in the logistics and dates is only bound to ruin their preparation cycles,” he explains.
Moreover, he also claims that a few are trying to dupe NEET PG aspirants by claiming there was a leak in the question paper, and that they could sell them the leaked paper for money on various Telegram groups.
These incidents, he says, have turned medical entrance tests in India into a “joke”.
“I hope that the Supreme Court looks into these matters, and asks the NBEMS answers for their mismanagement,” he says.
