© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A third-party review of the NEET undergraduate exam this year found some worrying “non-compliances” at a number of exam centres on May 5. These included the absence of the mandated two working CCTVs in exam rooms; and examples of strong rooms, where question-papers are stored at the exam centre, being left unguarded.
Sources said the National Testing Agency (NTA) — which conducts NEET-UG and is under fire for alleged irregularities included allegations of paper leak — was officially informed of the third-party review findings on June 16, almost 12 days after the examination results were announced.
For the review, the third party had visited 399 exam centres (of a total of approximately 4,000) that were mutually discussed and agreed upon by NTA and the reviewing party.
The review exercise, carried out on the day of the exam, found that of the 399 exam centres visited on the day of the exam, 186, or 46%, did not have two working CCTV cameras, as mandated, installed in each exam room. The live feed of these cameras is transmitted to the Central Control Room at the NTA headquarters in New Delhi which is meant to be monitored by a team of experts.
Further, at 68 (or 16%) of the 399 sample of exam centres, the strong room was not “secured by guard.” As a rule, the strong room should have been guarded till the time of distribution of question papers.
Also, at 83 centres, the biometric staff was not the same as the designated staff meant for the respective centres.
The objective of the review is to identify non-compliance of laid-down guidelines or any prima facie malpractices during the exam at the centre on the day of the examination.
For the review exercise, the observer, deployed by the third party, has a detailed checklist to verify: physical controls at examination centers (jammers are functioning, covering all required rooms, physical security, access to the exam center, physical movement at centre, frisking as per requirement); seating arrangement against the allotted seats; presence of required number of invigilators, CCTV staff, among other requirements.
Selecting a school or any place as an exam centre for NEET-UG, NTA considers a range of factors. These include: infrastructure standards, centre’s vulnerability to potential malpractices, candidate seating capacity, accessibility, access to clean facilities, presence of essential life-safety equipment.
In response to The Indian Express report, the National Testing Agency said a day later that it adheres to guidelines of “one CCTV for 24 candidates.”
As for the third party observations on unguarded strongrooms at exam centres NTA said that “the Control/Strong Room is also equipped with CCTV Camera, and remained under the control of Centre Superintendent and authorized Observers/Deputy Observers”
It further said that NEET UG exam centres had “sufficient//approved number of Watchman/Guards,” which the Centre Superintendent can use as per the requirement.
“The manpower engaged for various activities, such as Biometric, frisking, verification etc. by the authorized Agencies, report for duty as assigned, however, in case of any last-minute change due to any unforeseen emergency or any other reason, NTA approves the replacement done by the deployment agency,” the NTA note to The Indian Express stated.
The NTA has been at the receiving end of a lot of criticism due to issues with the NEET-UG results announced on June 4, on the day of the Lok Sabha election results.
First, an unusually large number of candidates (67) got the perfect score of 720/720 and some candidates got 718 or 719 — marks others claimed were not possible in the scheme of the exam. The NTA attributed this to a combination of factors including a relatively easier paper, the decision to award additional marks to students who lost time during the exam because of errors and delays on the part of NTA staff and invigilators, and an incorrect question.
The NTA is also facing allegations of question paper leak in Bihar with the state police having arrested 13 people.
Of the 13 people arrested in the state, four are candidates who took the NEET, while the others are their parents and members of an organised gang that allegedly gathered 35 candidates before the exam at a school under the jurisdiction of Ramakrishna Nagar police station and conducted a mock exam. They allegedly received the NEET question paper with answers there.
That apart, two exam centres in Godhra, Gujarat, are under the scanner of the state police for having allegedly helped candidates fill the right answers in their OMR sheets.
