Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced that discussions are underway to determine whether the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) should shift from the current pen-and-paper format to an online mode. This was stated in a report by PTI.
A decision is expected soon, and any changes will be implemented from the 2025 edition.
The Education Ministry has held two rounds of deliberations with the Health Ministry, led by Union Minister JP Nadda, regarding the exam format. Currently, NEET-UG is conducted offline, requiring students to solve multiple-choice questions on OMR sheets.
NEET-UG, the country's largest entrance exam, saw over 24 lakh candidates appear in 2024. The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducts the exam annually for admissions into MBBS and other medical courses. The exam offers a total of 1,08,000 seats, including approximately 56,000 in government colleges and 52,000 in private institutions.
"The administrative ministry of NEET is the Health Ministry, and hence we are in talks with them about whether NEET should be conducted in pen-and-paper mode or online mode. Whatever option will be considered best suited for conducting the exam, NTA is ready to undertake the exercise," Pradhan stated.
The idea of transitioning NEET to a Computer-Based Test (CBT) format has been discussed multiple times. However, a paper leak controversy earlier this year gave the reform a fresh impetus. The Ministry of Education constituted a high-level panel, chaired by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief R Radhakrishnan, to propose measures to ensure the transparent and secure conduct of exams.
The panel's report suggested multi-stage testing for NEET-UG as a viable option and recommended developing a framework outlining thresholds, scoring objectives, and the number of attempts.
Additionally, recent allegations of irregularities in the NEET and the University Grants Commission—National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) prompted further scrutiny. The UGC-NET was cancelled due to compromised integrity, and two other exams, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-UGC NET) and NEET-PG were preemptively halted. The CBI is currently investigating both incidents.
The panel includes prominent experts, such as former All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi director Randeep Guleria, Central University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Prof BJ Rao, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Professor K Ramamurthy, and others. It has been tasked with evaluating and strengthening the security protocols for exam processes.
"What will be NEET's methodology, what will be the protocol...a decision is expected soon. We will notify it soon," Pradhan affirmed, indicating significant reforms could be on the horizon.
