NEET: do not betray students again

As part of the preparations for the NEET-UG re-examination scheduled for June 21, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), acting on the request of the National Testing Agency (NTA), has imposed a temporary restriction on Telegram — one of the country's major social media platforms. The IT Ministry's directive came at a time when the Central Government is facing intense public criticism over repeated failures in conducting the tests. The order curtails the operations of Telegram until Monday and disables its message-editing features until June 30. As nearly 22 lakh students head back to the examination halls, will this measure suffice to restore credibility? Opposition parties, internet users, and digital rights activists argue that it is not only inadequate but also represents a highly ridiculous and anti-student approach. The criticism leveled against the government by Sarthak Siddhant, the teenager who exposed the flaws in the CBSE’s evaluation system, is particularly noteworthy. He reacted by stating, “One communication channel aloneis being shut down under the guise of fake information. Don't such issues exist on WhatsApp and other platforms? Shut down every medium where voices of dissent are raised. Why not just ban people from speaking to each other altogether?”

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The continuous paper leaks and malpractices we have been witnessing lately are not isolated, temporary lapses by a few individuals; rather, they are clear evidence of a structural breakdown in India's examination system. Independent studies reveal that since 2019, there have been question paper leaks in at least 64 major examinations across 19 states, with a staggering 1.4 crore candidates bearing the brunt of this crisis.

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Instead of admitting to these grave failures and finding solutions, the steps taken by the administration are proving to be impractical tactics aimed at deflecting public attention. The root source of the leak lies neither in Telegram nor in any other social media platform. Rather, it stems from the security breaches, administrative failures, and corruption within the examination management system itself. By failing to plug these internal loopholes and instead blaming the technological medium used for communication, the Central Government is simply evading its own responsibility. Restricting a platform relied upon by lakhs of students for educational purposes is merely a superficial attempt to create an illusion of ensuring examination security.

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Although the Supreme Court cancelled the 2015 national medical and dental entrance examination following an organised scam involving Bluetooth devices, the trials for those cases drag on indefinitely. In 2018, the CBSE Economics question paper was leaked. The REET exam question paper was leaked in Rajasthan. The Bihar Public Service Commission examination was cancelled. In Uttar Pradesh, the paper leak in the police constable recruitment examination affected more than 48 lakh candidates. In the NEET exam paper leaks of 2024 and 2026, lakhs of children have been plunged into severe mental agony, and some among them have even been driven to suicide.

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After each incident, arrests were made, charge sheets were filed, and investigative agencies held press conferences. However, the public rarely hears news of the criminals receiving exemplary punishment. To give an example: following the exposure of the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh — one of the largest examination scandals in the country — around forty people associated with the incident died under mysterious circumstances. Even after a dozen years, the administration has not been willing to make those working behind this exam fraud and these deaths answerable. This naturally raises the question: who actually suffers the punishment for exam malpractices? Without a doubt, the real victims of paper leaks are the students who work hard for years and their families. When an examination is cancelled, what is lost is not just a date, but an entire year of preparation, mental peace, and the hopes of families.

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The assurance that the nation must give to the students appearing for the exam on June 21 is that such systemic failures will not happen again. As a first step towards this, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan should accept moral responsibility and resign. It is an undeniable fact that the lack of structural reforms and foresight on the part of the Central Government accelerated this collapse. When major competitive exams involving crores of students were brought under a centralised system like the National Testing Agency, the administration refused to take into account the concerns raised regarding its internal capacity to ensure security. Therefore, if transparency in exam management and the rights of hardworking children are to be protected, the Centre must be willing to acknowledge its own failures and thoroughly reform the system instead of blaming technology. Otherwise, every year, the hopes of lakhs of students will continue to be sacrificed in this decayed system.