New Delhi, June 14 (EFE).- Irregularities in a demanding university entrance exam for a medical career in India, which 2.4 million students took, generated demonstrations and calls for calm this Friday by the Indian Government.
“I want to assure students that all their concerns will receive a fair and equal response. No student will be disadvantaged and no child’s career will be in jeopardy,” said the newly appointed Education Minister of the Asian country, Dharmendra Pradhan, at the social network
The matter has reached the Supreme Court of India and Pradhan stated that the Government “will take all necessary measures” ordered by the country’s highest judicial body.
The controversy over this exam held on May 5 in 4,750 centers throughout the country, generally known by its acronym in English (NEET), began with the publication of the results ten days ago.
It was then that parents, students and student unions began to highlight several suspicious points in this exam, such as the fact that an unusually high number of candidates compared to other years obtained a perfect score: 67.
Other test takers achieved a higher score than would be possible by getting all the multiple choice answers correct, while a good number of the students with the best scores come from a handful of schools.
This would be proof, according to the complainants, that the exam answers were leaked, a relatively frequent event in the Asian country and one that has already sparked strong controversies and demonstrations in the past.
Part of the irregularities were reported this Friday by the president of the opposition Congress Party (INC), Mallikarjun Kharge, who accused the Government in X of trying to “cover up the scam.”
One of the controversial points was the granting of extra points to 1,563 candidates, according to the National Testing Agency (NTA) in charge of the test, for having lost time due to technical errors or other problems beyond their control during the test.
After organizing a committee to examine this point, the NTA announced in a statement on Thursday that these candidates will be able to accept the withdrawal of these extra points or be re-examined.
However, associations such as the All India Students Association (AISA) have demanded, through protests that began a week ago and that were repeated today in several cities in the country, the annulment of the results and a formal investigation.
Every year, India reports cases of arrests, leaks of questionnaires or retakes of written tests after cheating is discovered, often involving hundreds of people. EFE
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