Opinion: Our government has failed students

The Centre seems to be still in celebration mode, caring little about the fate of the lakhs of youngsters

By KSS Seshan

The announcement of the Education Ministry on June 19 that the UGC-NET 2024 stands cancelled has come as a bolt from the blue for the aspirants who were looking forward to clearing the exam to claim coveted positions like Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), admission into PhD programmes or the post of Assistant Professor. A pass in the NET is mandatory for these positions.

---

Hopes Dashed

The Ministry made it clear that the exam was cancelled as the question papers were leaked on the ‘Darknet’ and as the testing agency was convinced that the “integrity of the examination was compromised”. It also said the matter was being handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The UGC declared that a fresh examination would be conducted, the details of which would be announced later. It is unfortunate that the government has not assessed the gravity of the situation as such cancellation has affected numerous aspirants and dashed their hopes of claiming the benefits after clearing such a test.

The unprecedented failure of the UGC-NET 2024 test has added to the woes as it comes on the heels of a similar controversy concerning the just concluded National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) where too the question paper is said to have been leaked. The involvement of the governmental agencies is said to have been behind this leak. A government engineer in Bihar is supposed to have helped his nephew to clear the exam and one day before the scheduled exam, the question paper was in the hands of that nephew. The involvement of a Bihar Minister also has come to the fore to the astonishment of the nation.

The announcement of the Education Minister that the government was committed to the “welfare of the students and those involved in such paper leakage would not be spared” did not cut much ice as the State government in Bihar has been in alliance with the ruling party at the Centre.

National Issue

Notwithstanding the Bihar angle, medical aspirants from across the nation have been demanding a reexamination of the NEET test which was hit by numerous charges of irregularities besides paper leak, a steep rise in the merit list due to the testing agency’s decision to award grace marks to about 1,563 candidates. Even after the National Testing Agency (NTA) conceded the genuine demand and cancelled the grace marks due to such an uproar, the move did not assuage the concern of the lakhs of the aspirants.

Several student bodies and youth wings of many political parties have been holding protests across the country to flag their concerns over the alleged irregularities in this prestigious examination that has witnessed as many as 67 candidates securing a perfect 720 marks (out of 720), unprecedented in the history of the NTA. There have been allegations that in some places cheating has been a common factor in the NEET exam. Instances galore when parents and invigilators/teachers themselves help candidates to copy. These allegations have made the NEET a national issue.

Some time ago, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu declared that the State government would boycott the NEET exam as according to him, the test was beset with regional bias and that the rural students in the south stand to lose any benefit from it. A DMK sitting Member of Parliament has gone on record saying the NEET exam was driving several students to commit suicide in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. We are aware that many young students who specifically come to NEET training at Kota in Rajasthan died by suicide because of the rigour connected with preparation for the examination.

Indifferent Govt

The failure of the UGC-NET exam with its cancellation due to the leak of the question paper and the controversies of a serious nature surrounding the NEET 2024 with several allegations have shaken the credibility of the testing agencies besides eroding the faith and trust among the general public on the efficacy of such national testing bodies. But what is intriguing is the complete silence of the governmental agencies in looking at the manner in which lakhs of students all over the country were put to despair, inconvenience and hardship due to such a mess up of the national test.

There has been practically no assurance on the part of the powers at the helm to assuage the apprehensions of the affected students. Except for the announcement of the Education Minister cancelling the UGC-NET and giving a formal assurance to punish the culprits in the NEET leak by ordering a CBI probe, no other concrete assurance has come forward from the higher responsible governmental quarters. The Education Ministry, though, on June 22 notified a seven-member panel “to improve the efficiency of the examination process, put an end to all possible malpractices, strengthen data security protocols and overhaul and reform the NTA”. The government at the Centre appears to have treated both the episodes as a mere routine affair.

In fact, national-level tests like UGC-NET and NEET are of paramount importance for the young aspirants. It is life and death for many aspiring candidates and they look forward to clearing these exams to make a career. The parents too, pinning great hopes, send their children to coaching centres at great expense and risk. Centres like Kota thrive on such an urge on the part of students and parents. The central government seems to be still in celebration mode and never bothered about the fate of the lakhs of young boys and girls who are now standing at the threshold of uncertainty due to the bungling of the tests, leak of the question papers, cancellations, court cases, etc. It is ironic that everyone in the government, big and small, gloats over the ‘achievements’ of the government on even trivial issues but has been keeping tight-lipped on the utter flop of the prestigious national tests.

There is, therefore, every need for the central government to recognise the magnitude of the problem that the two national eligibility tests have unfortunately failed the aspirant young students and thus the very nation. It must come out with an assurance that the culprits who perpetuated the crime would be duly punished and that the cancelled tests would be reconducted before long with care and utmost efficiency. Such an assurance alone will ensure the credibility of the testing agencies and restore faith and trust in such institutions among the public.

(The writer is a retired Professor of History, University of Hyderabad)