Only 813 out of the 1,563 candidates, who were awarded grace marks in the NEET-UG 2024 exam, appeared for the retest on Sunday, June 23, according to the National Testing Agency (NTA). 750 candidates who were given the option for the retest skipped the exam.
The retest, a three-and-a-half-hour long examination, was conducted across seven centres in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Meghalaya, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The Union government on June 13 informed the Supreme Court that 1,563 candidates were eligible for the retest and said that their scorecards will be scrapped. The NTA had said it awarded ‘grace marks’ to a segment of students on the grounds of ‘loss of time’.
Earlier this month, the NTA had awarded grace marks in a non-transparent manner, resulting in at least 67 candidates achieving perfect scores of 720/720. According to the Supreme Court’s order, the original score, minus the grace marks, would be considered for students who skipped the retest. For those who appeared, the revised scores from the retest would be taken into account.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently filed a First Information Report (FIR) related to the NEET-UG exam held on May 5. This was due to a complaint from the Education Ministry amid widespread protests from students over allegations of a paper leak. In connection with these allegations, 63 candidates were debarred from sitting for the exam, including 17 from Bihar and 30 from Godhra in Gujarat.
A seven-member reform committee, led by former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Radhakrishnan, has been established to probe the lapses by the NTA and is expected to submit its report within two months. The committee will also suggest mechanisms to strengthen the examination process.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is a competitive exam for medical aspirants across India, which was taken by approximately 24 lakh students on May 5. The results, declared on June 4, raised concerns when 67 students scored perfect marks, pushing the cut-off to unprecedented levels and causing anxiety among candidates regarding their chances of securing a college seat.
