Derek voices concerns over differential NEET papers

Expressing concern over the question paper fiasco in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien on Monday sought explanation from the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) minister as to why the Bengali medium students deserving a place in medical studies have been deprived. He was speaking at Rajya Sabha.

Millennium Post had first reported showing how Bengali medium students from the state failed to find a place in the merit list only because the question paper set for the Bengali medium candidates was harder than that of the English and Hindi medium papers. It had also highlighted how the number of Bengali medium students securing an admission in the state medical colleges across the state has drastically gone down due to an "irresponsible act" by the Centre.

As a result of this, none of the top rankers in the Higher Secondary examination this year managed to get a medical seat in the prestigious Calcutta Medical College and Hospital which was exclusively reported on the Millennium Post on July 21. NEET is a national level single medical entrance examination done for the first time in 2013 but formally introduced across the country from this year.

Members of the AIADMK expressed the same opinion as O'Brien did in the Rajya Sabha on Monday and voiced their protest against the difference in the standards of question papers given to students here in Bengal. The same incident reportedly occurred in Tamil Nadu and some other states as well.

The Trinamool Congress MP categorically questioned in the Upper House of Parliament that what would happen to those deserving candidates from Bengal who were deprived only because they were not judged on the equal grounds.

Derek O'Brien attracted the attention of Parliament and also the Central government by saying: "The English question paper for the NEET used to be translated into regional languages till 2013. But this year, the NEET question papers in Bengali or Tamil were entirely different."

"Around 40,000 of the 56,000 students who wrote the exam in Bengali or Tamil had disastrous results. NEET is not a West Bengal issue but it's a federal issue," O'Brien mentioned.

Statistics say that every year around 70 percent of the HS top rankers secure a medical seat in any of the state-run or private medical colleges in the state but this year, only around seven percent of such students secured a place in medical colleges. When the state government had come to know about the issue, it wrote to the Centre seeking some steps in this regard but no action was taken.

Incidentally, it may be mentioned here that the Union HRD minister, Prakash Javadekar while touring Kolkata on Saturday told the reporters that to avoid such incidents, the question papers in vernacular languages will be a translation of a single question paper in English from the next year.