OPPN DEMANDS GOVT RESPONSE ON ‘GOOF UP’ IN NEET PAPERS

NEW DELHI: Opposition members on Tuesday raised uproar in Rajya Sabha over goof up in question papers given to students taking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in regional languages in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Expressing concern over different questions papers being given to students, TMC and AIADMK members sought a response from the government.

With the treasury benches not responding, the members rushed into the well of the House raising anti-NEET slogans.

Raising the issue during the zero hour, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien said until 2013, the English question paper for NEET used to be translated into regional languages. “But this year, those attempting NEET in Bengali or Tamil got question papers that were entirely different,” he said.

O’Brien added that as a result, 40,000 of the 56,000 students who wrote the exam in Bengali or Tamil had “disastrous” results. “NEET exam is not a West Bengal issue. It is a federal issue.”

He was soon joined by AIADMK members who demanded scrapping the applicability of NEET to Tamil Nadu. Leader A Navaneethakrishnan called for a uniform syllabus.

Responding to the charges, Union health minister JP Nadda said the government was examining the issue.

PLEA ADJOURNED

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court on Monday adjourned hearing on a PIL seeking a direction to the central and state governments to obtain presidential assent for bills exempting Tamil Nadu from NEET.

Petitioner P B Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, state platform for common school systems, said the urban as well as rural poor had no access, time and resources for intensive coaching to face exams like NEET for admission to medical and dental courses. He added that the two bills were sent to the Centre last February for assent.