The NEET-UG 2024 data revealed that while the performance of candidates from centres under the scanner, like the Oasis School in Hazaribag (Jharkhand), and Hardayal Public School in Jhajjar (Haryana), or for that matter the Jay Jalaram International School in Godhra (Gujarat), were comparatively below par vis-a-vis not just the centres in coaching hubs but also thousands of others which have not attracted any taint for irregularities.
This may appear significant in view of NTA’s stand that the leak was a localised affair limited to Hazaribag, and with the beneficiaries already identified and debarred, there is no need for cancellation of the test.
Supreme Court had on Thursday ordered the NTA to upload on its website by Saturday noon the centre-wise results of the examination taken by more than 23 lakh students competing for over 1 lakh MBBS seats. This was to identify candidates who benefited from the NEET-UG question paper leak in Bihar and determine the spread of the leakage.
The court was responding to the contention of the petitioners’ counsel, senior advocate Narender Hooda, that the veracity of NTA’s stand which, he claimed, was at odds with the findings of Bihar Police which exposed the Hazaribag leak, should be ascertained by analysing the centre-wise results.
There were 701 candidates from the centre in Oasis School, the epicenter of the alleged leak, but no one scored 700 or above, while the number in the cohort of 650-699 was 7, and there are another 12 aspirants in the mark-range of 600-649. Significantly, while less than 1% of the candidates scored 650 and above in Oasis School, the centre in St Xavier’s School in the same city registered a little over 2% success rate for candidates scoring 650 and above, with one scoring over 700. The centre in St Xavier’s in Hazaribag has not been under scrutiny.
Just like those who appeared at Oasis School, candidates who took exams at the centre in Jay Jalaram School in Godhra, where the administration engaged in corrupt practices to help a few crack the exams, have not done well. The same holds true for the one at Hardayal Public School in Haryana’s Jhajjar which attracted controversy after the examinees there were given grace marks as compensation for not getting full time to finish the paper.
The Godhra school, in fact, registered one of the lowest percentages of candidates scoring 600 and above, with none of the 1,836 students who appeared there managing to score more than 700, and only 0.4% (7) scoring 650 or above. Only five of the students who appeared in Jhajjar got 720 despite the help in the form of “grace marks”. The grace marks were cancelled by NTA, and a retest was conducted. In the Hardayal Public School too, of the 494 aspirants, there were none in the 700 plus category, and just two candidates managed to score 650 and above. A total of 15 candidates scored 600 and above.
Even for candidates with scores in 600-650 range, securing a govt college seat will be difficult. While a total of 13 lakh of the 23 lakh examinees qualified, more than 30,000 scored over 650 and are better placed to bag one of the 56,000 seats in govt colleges which charge reasonable fees.
The total seats available this year, including private colleges, is 1.1 lakh. Those who scored less than 630 run the risk of not getting a seat at a good medical college.
The Godhra case was registered on May 8, three days after the exam, against five people based on information that they had helped 27 medical aspirants cheat. All five were charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating, and criminal breach of trust under sections of IPC. The arrested suspects include Vadodara-based education consultant Parshuram Roy, Jay Jalaram School principal Purushottam Sharma, teacher Tushar Bhatt, and alleged middlemen Vibhor Anand and Arif Vohra.
CBI has taken over five cases of alleged malpractice in NEET-UG that were being probed by police in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Bihar.