News Brief
Centre Postpones NEET-PG Exam Days After Cancelling UGC-NET — Here's Why
Students check NEET medical entrance exam results. (Representative Image) Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via GettyImages)
Amid the ongoing NEET-UG 2024 and UGC-NET controversies, the Centre on Saturday (22 June) decided to postpone the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Postgraduate (NEET-PG).
The NEET-PG is conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) for determining eligibility of candidates for admission to postgraduate medical programmes in government or private medical colleges.
The NEET-PG 2024 was earlier scheduled to be held today (23 June).
"Taking into consideration, the recent incidents of allegations regarding the integrity of certain competitive examinations, Ministry of Health has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of NEET-PG Entrance Examination, conducted by National Board of Examination for medical students," an official statement said on Saturday.
Accordingly, as a precautionary measure, the Health Ministry has decided to postpone the NEET-PG Entrance Examination.
The ministry said that fresh date of the NEET-PG examination will be notified at the earliest.
"Ministry of Health sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to the students. This decision has been taken in the best interests of the students and to maintain the sanctity of examination process," the statement added.
Nearly 24 lakh candidates appeared for the NEET-UG 2024 for undergraduate medical courses on 5 May, with results announced on 4 June.
However, allegations of a question paper leak and grace marks awarded to over 1,500 students led to protests and legal actions, including Supreme Court involvement, which reprimanded the National Testing Agency (NTA).
On Wednesday, the Education Ministry canceled the UGC-NET exam a day after it was held.
Over 9 lakh candidates participated in this exam, which determines eligibility for Assistant Professor posts and junior research fellowships.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Minister Pradhan revealed that the UGC chairman received information from the Home Ministry's cybercrime team about questions being available on the darknet.
Pradhan described the NEET-UG paper leak and similar incidents as isolated but accepted moral responsibility.
