Bengal govt passes resolution against NEET-UG, calls it 'education scam'

The West Bengal Assembly proposed reinstating the state's previous Joint Entrance-Medical examination, which was formerly administered by the state government

The West Bengal Assembly on Wednesday approved a resolution regarding NEET-UG following a discussion. The ruling Trinamool Congress introduced this resolution on Tuesday, labelling NEET-UG as an education scam. It proposed reinstating the state’s previous Joint Entrance-Medical examination, which was formerly administered by the state government.

While moving the resolution, state minister for parliamentary affairs Sobhondeb Chattopadhyay said, “NEET-UG is the biggest scam in the Indian education sector.” He suggested implementing a system where the state government could resume conducting examinations, as was done previously.

State education minister Bratya Basu said, “I support the resolution on NEET moved by our state minister. Prior to this, Tamil Nadu and Kerala assemblies have also discussed the issue. In 2010-11, when the UPA government, dampening the federal structure, tried to conduct NEET, letters were written. Significantly, apart from Bengal, Gujarat also protested on the same issue.”

He further added that after the NEET examination was handed over to the National Testing Agency (NTA) in 2014, students, doctors, medical community, as well as political parties, were seen protesting on the issue.

“On what grounds the grace marks were increased? It was based on the CLAT model. This was the first problem. Thus, so many students stood first in NEET-UG,” Basu said.

The state education minister said that the credibility of the NTA is now under scrutiny. “The credibility of the NTA is in question now. Why were all students given grace marks? The NTA is unable to give details about the grace marks,” Basu added.

Last year, 50 students achieved 700 marks, whereas this year, only 300 students reached that score, he said, adding that the questions were more challenging this time compared to previous years. Basu further said that after the NEET test, several examinations such as UGC NET, NEET-PG and CSIR NET have been cancelled.

[With agency inputs]