Online NEET-UG safer but highly complex, say officials

NEW DELHI: With govt moving to NEET-UG online from next year, a decision triggered by the medical entrance exam’s cancellation following allegations of a paper leak, health and education officials cautioned that this transition of India’s biggest entrance test in terms of candidates may be far more complicated than it appears, but accepted that it was safer than the pen-paper mode.The new computer-based test (CBT) format is expected to have at least 20 sessions spread across 10 days to accommodate the massive candidate pool (the 2026 exam had 23 lakh), officials said.This will require enormous infrastructure in terms of computers, access to the internet and exam centres, they said, noting the plan was shelved nearly a decade ago over this concern as well as over cybersecurity risks and clashes with the examination calendar.“National Testing Agency (NTA) will work out a plan to expand its exam centre infrastructure for the 2027 test,” said an official.Under the new system, candidates will no longer mark answers on OMR sheets using pens, but answer questions directly on computer terminals at designated centres, similar to several other national-level entrance exam-inations like CUET and JEE. The syllabus and overall question pattern are expected to remain unchanged initially.Officials said that the CBT, unlike an OMR sheet-based exam, offers stronger protection against physical paper leakage, much richer digital audit trail, and potentially faster result turnaround. Like in other national exams, CBT also offers better impersonation control, they said.The health ministry had opposed a similar move in 2018 when the proposal for online, twice-a-year NEET-UG exams was first floated. The ministry had then argued that the CBT format could disadvantage students from rural and economically weaker backgrounds because of the digital divide and unequal access to computers and internet infrastructure.The health ministry had also objected to the proposal on the grounds that it was announced without formal consultation. It had expressed concerns that conducting the examination twice a year in a CBT format could increase pressure on students rather than reduce it.On the issue of score normalisation across multiple shifts, the official said, “Normalisation is already practised for JEE and we have a template for that. However, NTA will also work on it to ensure fairness.”