NEET-PG 2025 aspirants protest for a single-shift examination to make sure equity and transparency | File Picture
Mumbai: With admit playing cards for the NEET-PG 2025 examination scheduled to be launched on June 2, a rising refrain of aspirants, dad and mom, and activists are demanding that the Nationwide Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) revert to a single-shift format for the high-stakes postgraduate medical entrance check. The decision for “equity, not favour” has reignited issues in regards to the perceived inequity of conducting the examination in a number of periods.
In a associated growth, the Supreme Court docket of India on Monday agreed to “quickly” listing two petitions that problem the conduct of NEET-PG in two separate shifts, with petitioners arguing that the observe introduces unacceptable discrepancies in an examination that may decide not solely a candidate’s medical speciality but additionally their place of examine and future profession prospects.
Till 2023, NEET-PG had all the time been carried out in a single shift throughout the nation. Nonetheless, NBEMS shifted to a two-shift mannequin in 2024 citing a paper leak within the undergraduate examination final 12 months.
“Till 2023, NEET PG was carried out in a single shift—honest, clear, and with out main controversy,” stated Brijesh Sutaria, a Mumbai-based medical training activist, talking to The Free Press Journal.
“Since 2024, the shift to a two-session format has sparked confusion and severe issues. Why was this variation made, particularly when India has sufficient safe computer-based centres to conduct the examination in a single shift with none pilferage or leak?”
Sutaria questioned why the NBEMS, which had earlier described its examination system as “foolproof”—with encrypted query papers uploaded solely half-hour earlier than the examination—wanted to alter a format that had labored seamlessly for years.
“No public assertion has been issued by NBEMS or the Ministry of Well being & Household Welfare justifying the necessity for 2 shifts,” he added. “Claims that laptop centres are insufficient fall flat when the identical infrastructure labored flawlessly for years.”
College students making ready for the 2025 examination echoed comparable frustrations. “The NEET-PG examination was launched with the tagline ‘One Nation, One Examination’. Then why can’t NBEMS conduct the examination in a single shift?” requested one aspirant, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Well being Minister J.P. Nadda to intervene. “We’re asking for equity, not favour.”
One other pupil remarked, “The identical factor occurred to us final 12 months and many people suffered due to it. We’ve tried to method the Supreme Court docket, however the case retains getting postponed.”
Aspirants concern that the normalisation course of used to equalise scores between two units of questions doesn’t supply a degree enjoying area in an examination the place even a fractional distinction in marks can drastically alter outcomes.
“In NEET PG, even one mark—or a decimal level—can shift a candidate’s rank by 1000’s. College students might then must accept specialities or establishments they didn’t select. In such circumstances, it’s important that every one candidates reply the identical set of questions beneath the identical circumstances,” a pupil wrote in a petition.
Additionally they questioned the validity of the normalisation formulation, citing the tie-breaking standards specified by the NEET-PG 2025 data bulletin, which considers the variety of right solutions in particular sections.
“How are you going to apply such a formulation to a double-shift examination the place the issue and nature of questions are completely different? That is absolute injustice,” the scholar stated.
One other aspirant, who additionally appeared for the examination final 12 months, stated, “the issue degree of query papers in two shifts in 2024 was fairly completely different. The second shift paper, for which I appeared, was harder than the primary shift. I imagine that had I been allotted the primary shift, I’d have secured a greater rank.”
She added that she needed to take a drop for a 12 months as a result of she couldn’t safe an admission in a course of her selection and in a school of her selection. “Why ought to my destiny be determined by which shift I’ve been allotted,” she requested.
Citing precedent, college students pointed to a 2017 directive from the Prime Minister’s Workplace, which mandated a single-shift examination following complaints of unfairness throughout NEET-PG 2016.
“NEET-PG was launched with the motto ‘One Nation, One Exam’. What has modified now? Is it so troublesome to conduct such an essential examination with equity and transparency?” requested one other aspirant.
Because the strain mounts on the authorities, NEET-PG 2025 aspirants hope that the Supreme Court docket will prioritise their petitions this week. “NEET-PG aspirants are the longer term spine of India’s healthcare system,” stated Sutaria.
“They deserve an examination course of that’s equitable, constant, and clear. Justice delayed is not only justice denied—it’s harm finished to the benefit system and to medical training at giant.”
