The Ministry of Education and Health is discussing whether to conduct the medical entrance exam NEET-UG in pen and paper mode or online mode and a decision in this regard will be taken soon, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Education, under the leadership of Union Minister JP Nadda, has held two-stage talks with the Ministry of Health.
Currently, NEET-UG is conducted offline – in pen and paper mode – where students have to solve multiple-choice questions on an OMR sheet.
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The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is the largest entrance exam in the country in terms of the number of candidates appearing for the exam. In 2024, a record 24 lakh candidates took the exam.
“The administrative ministry of NEET is the Ministry of Health and so we are talking to them about whether to conduct NEET in pen and paper mode or online mode. We have held two rounds of talks with the Ministry of Health under the leadership of JP Nadda. However. It is considered suitable for conducting the exam, NTA practice ready to do,” Pradhan told reporters.
The minister said that a decision in this regard will be taken soon and the examination will be revised in the 2025 edition.
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“What will be the procedure of NEET, what will be the protocol…the decision is expected soon. We will inform soon,” he added.
NTA conducts NEET every year for admission to medical colleges. A total of 1,08,000 seats are available for MBSS courses. Out of the seats available for MBBS course, about 56 thousand seats are in government hospitals and 52 thousand are in private colleges. Admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha also use NEET results for admissions.
The idea of switching to Computer Based Test (CBT) mode for NEET is not new and has been considered many times before. However, there was a push for exam reform after the paper leak controversy earlier this year.
In the line of fire over alleged irregularities in NEET and PhD admission NET, the Center had in July constituted a panel by the NTA to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of the examinations.
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According to a high-level panel headed by former ISRO chief R Radhakrishnan, a multi-stage test for NEET-UG could be a viable option that needs to be pursued.
“An acceptable framework may be evolved with thresholds of score and ranking at each stage and test objectives, and number of attempts etc.,” the panel recommended in its report.
NEET was under the scanner for several irregularities including alleged leaks, UGC-NET was canceled as the ministry received information that the integrity of the exam had been compromised. Both the cases are being investigated by the CBI.
Two other exams – CSIR-UGC NET and NEET PG – were canceled at the last moment as a pre-emptive step.
The panel also includes Randeep Guleria, former director of AIIMS Delhi, BJ Rao, vice-chancellor of Central University of Hyderabad, K Ramamurthy, professor emeritus of the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Pankaj Bansal, co-founder of People Strong and Karmayogi Bharat Board Member, IIT Delhi. Dean of Student Affairs Aditya Mittal and MoE Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal.
The committee was also tasked with examining the existing security protocols related to question paper setting and other procedures for various examinations and making recommendations to strengthen the system.
The panel also chose two academicians from IIT Kanpur as members – Amey Karkare, professor of computer science and engineering, and Devpriya Roy, assistant professor.