NEET UG: Opposition reacts as NTA grants ‘grace marks’ to over 1500 students | Education News | WN24

The National Testing Agency has issued a public statement explaining how a total of 67 students received a NEET all India rank (AIR) 1. The agency has claimed that over 1500 students were given ‘grace marks’ to make up for loss of time. However, this has not stopped political parties and students from criticizing the government.

As per the official release by NTA, “1563 candidates were compensated for the loss of time and the revised marks of such candidates vary from -20 to 720 marks. Amongst these, the score of two candidates also happens to be 718 and 719 marks respectively due to compensatory marks.”

Along with this, the NTA told The Indian Express on June 4 that a total of 44 students were given grace marks after they got an answer to a basic physics question wrong – and received “grace marks” for that, which was based on an incorrect reference in their old Class 12 NCERT science textbook. This decision boosted their scores from 715 to a perfect 720, dramatically increasing the number of toppers.

The NTA claims that out of the 67 candidates who got 720/720 marks, 44 are on account of the revision in one answer key of Physics and 6 are on account of compensatory marks for loss of time.

Opposition blames Modi government

While NTA has cleared their stand, students, experts and opposition political leaders are not satisfied with the explanation. Senior Congress party leader, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, took to social media platform ‘X’ to demand an answer from the government.

Festive offer

“First the NEET exam paper was leaked and now students are alleging that there has been a scam in its results as well. Serious questions are being raised over 6 students from the same center getting 720 out of 720 marks and many kinds of irregularities are coming to light. On the other hand, there are reports of many children committing suicide across the country after the results were announced. This is very sad and shocking.

Why is the government ignoring the voice of lakhs of students? Students want answers to legitimate questions related to the rigging in the NEET exam results. Is it not the government’s responsibility to investigate and resolve these legitimate complaints?” she said.

The President of the Congress party leader, Mallikarjun Kharge, also demanded a ‘high level investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court’. “Paper leaks, rigging and corruption have become an integral part of many examinations including NEET,” he alleged.

A few other Congress leaders, such as Sachin Pilot, have also talked about this issue.

Students demand investigation

Meanwhile, Jaipur Association Of Resident Doctors has also shared their concern over NTA’s silence on alleged paper leak, inflated number of toppers and more. The JARD is demanding an investigation by CBI and canceling NTA’s authority to conduct NEET UG in the future.

FAIMA Doctors Association chairman, Rohan Krishnan, also raised the issue by calling it “such a shady look on such sensitive exams”.

Several students, teachers and other stakeholders have also taken to social media platforms such as ‘X’ to raise doubts on the integrity of NEET UG 2024 result.

Meanwhile, as per reports, the Calcutta High Court has sought a response from NTA on a plea questioning alleged irregularities while conducting NEET UG 2024. The court called on the NTA to file an affidavit within 10 days from date in response to the allegations made in the writ petition, a LiveLaw report stated.