Days after the Union Health Ministry postponed the National Eligibility and Entrance Test postgraduate (NEET PG) 2024 examination initially scheduled for June 23, President of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) Abhijat Sheth announced on Tuesday that the SOPs and protocols will be reviewed promptly, with the new examination date to be declared by next week.
Sheth's statement followed a review meeting between officials of the NBEMS and the Union Health Ministry, assessing the situation and input received by the government prior to the postponement of the examination.
The government decided to postpone the NEET PG 2024 exams amid rising controversy over alleged "irregularities" in the NEET UG exam conducted on May 5.
"The integrity of this examination was never in doubt as far as NEET PG is concerned. For the last seven years, we have conducted so far successfully... Because of the recent events, what has happened that there were lots of concerns about all these sorts of examinations from the student communities and in response to that, the government has decided to ensure once more to make sure that the sanctity of the examination the safety and security must be maintained. So they have decided to review the SOPs and protocols as soon as possible. We will declare the next due date in one next week...," said Abhijat Sheth while speaking to ANI.
Addressing the advisory issued against social media messages and fraudsters' warnings, he said, "This was for protection; that's why we published the SOPs before the examination, this is all perception, social media is so vast these days that sometimes it gives the wrong message to the students, and we wanted students should remain on the right path."
Speaking about the meeting between NEBMS officials and the Health Ministry, Sheth added, "It was mainly related to review of the processes for computer-based examination and the inputs received by the government. Directions have also been given by the government to the examination body and to Tata Consultancy Services, a technical partner of NEBMS. We certainly work closely to ensure that even minor shortcomings are been taken care of.”
Earlier, the Ministry of Education announced the formation of a high level committee of experts to recommend reforms in the examination process, improvements in data security protocols, and the functioning of the NTA. The 7-member committee, led by former ISRO chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, will submit its report to the ministry in the next two months, as reported by the ANI.