The first red flag that indicated the medical exam NEET-UG could have been compromised came when it became known that over 1,500 students were given grace marks.
But why was this so?
Sources in the Education Ministry said grace marks have never been the norm for "loss of exam time". To compensate for time constraints, the format recommended increasing time, but never to allow grace marks which were given subjectively.
The eventual retest for over 1,500 students who were given grace marks in NEET-UG; the cancellation of the UGC-NET for teaching posts in higher education, and the postponement of the NEET-PG just a day before it was to be held – all these point at gaps in how the National Testing Agency (NTA) worked, sources have said.
The NEET-PG is administered by the National Board of Examinations under the Health Ministry.
Education ministry sources said the government is looking to implement every critical reform in the NTA before the next cycle of exams begin in 2025. They said the NTA will also see whether NEET can be held multiple times or just once a year, apart from chalking out best practices.
The Centre replaced the NTA Director General Subodh Kumar Singh with retired Indian Administration Service (IAS) officer Pradeep Singh Kharola, a move which sources said sought to save the NTA's credibility.
Sources said students' confidence in the NTA had diminished following the controversies.
"The NTA failed to assure candidates. There has been no provision to give grace marks. This is the first time grace marks have been given to candidates. As per the rules, the candidates should have been given extra time if there was some time loss. And then the grace marking was done through the odd method," an Education Ministry source said.
The NTA had awarded grace marks to 1,564 candidates due to loss of exam time. It said it followed the same normalisation formula that had been approved by the Supreme Court in the CLAT in 2018, when a similar situation arose. The NTA later withdrew these grace marks.
The retest was held today for 1,563 students, out of which 813 or 52 per cent students turned up.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a new case and taken over the investigation.