NEET-UG Re-test to Be Held Today, Student Suicides Reported Amid Mounting Stress

New Delhi: The NEET-UG re-test, postponed following the question paper leak, will be held on Sunday. The examination will begin at 2 pm and continue until 5.15 pm. Both the central and state governments have put in place heavy security arrangements for the exam. Students have expressed anxiety over the entry norms for examination centres being made stricter for the re-test, apparently to cover up the lapses of the original exam, with fresh guidelines being issued almost every day further adding to their distress. A nationwide mock drill was also conducted ahead of the re-test.

Students have remained anxious ever since the original exam was cancelled due to a question paper leak caused by the central government's negligence, and the Centre has failed to address this anxiety even in conducting the re-test. Students have faced hurdles, including in downloading hall tickets, and several who received hall tickets found their examination centres changed. More than 22.79 lakh candidates are appearing for the re-test.

A student from Nagpur was allotted Abu Dhabi as his exam centre, despite having listed Nagpur as his first preference. After the matter caused a public outcry, the NTA agreed to allot the student a centre in Nagpur itself. There is also a complaint that a student who took the original exam in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, was allotted Dehradun, Uttarakhand, as the centre for the re-test.

With the day of the re-test now here, mental stress among students has escalated, leading to further student suicides. However, neither the Education Minister nor the central government has said a word about these suicides so far. A NEET student's suicide was also reported from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh — Jatin Kumar (22), a resident of Pratap Vihar, took his own life. Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janta Party is holding the second phase of its protest in Delhi demanding the Union Education Minister's resignation. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has declared that the party will continue its sit-in at Jantar Mantar until Pradhan resigns.