On NEET controversy, Priyanka Gandhi says BJP ‘attacking dreams of youth …’

NEW DELHI: Amidst the alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-Undergraduate) exams, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra came down heavily on the BJP government and targeted it for “attacking the dreams of the youth as soon as it took oath”.

The May 5 exam, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) across 4,750 centres for nearly 24 lakh students, has been put in the dock over allegations relating to paper leaks and questionable grace marks. An unprecedented 67 students have achieved a perfect score of 720, which has added to the concerns.

Taking to her official X handle on Friday, Priyanka Gandhi targeted the government and Education Minister and said, “As soon as the new BJP government took oath, it again started attacking the dreams of the youth. The arrogant response of the Education Minister (Dharmendra Pradhan) on the irregularities in the NEET exam results completely ignores the cries of 24 lakh students and their parents. Does the Education Minister not see the facts available in the public domain?”

Criticising the government for ignoring the youths, Gandhi added further, “The question is, whom does the government want to save in the system by ignoring lakhs of youth and their parents? Shouldn’t the dreams of the youth stop being sacrificed at the altar of this corrupt examination system?”

भाजपा की नई सरकार ने शपथ लेते ही युवा सपनों पर फिर से प्रहार शुरू कर दिया। NEET परीक्षा परिणाम में गड़बड़ियों पर शिक्षा मंत्री का अहंकार भरा जवाब 24 लाख छात्रों एवं उनके अभिभावकों की चीख-पुकार की पूरी तरह से अनदेखी करता है। क्या शिक्षा मंत्री जी को सार्वजनिक रूप से मौजूद तथ्य…

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) June 14, 2024

Priyanka Gandhi, in her post, also asserted that the government’s responsibility is to look into the complaints seriously and take action instead of ignoring the students and parents. “The BJP government should abandon its ego and think seriously about the future of the youth and take measures to curb corruption in examinations”, she added.

Meanwhile, the NTA told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the scorecards of 1,563 candidates who got “grace marks” in the NEET-UG exam will be cancelled and the candidates will have a chance to reappear for the exam on June 23 and the results will be declared before June 30.

The NTA told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that a committee has been constituted to review the results of over 1,563 candidates who were awarded “grace marks” to compensate for the loss of time suffered while appearing for NEET-UG.

“The Committee has decided to cancel the scorecards of 1563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates who were given grace marks and these students will be given the option to take a re-test,” NTA said. “The exam will be conducted on June 23 and the results will be declared before June 30”, it added.

The Apex Court reiterated that it will not continue the counselling of NEET-UG, 2024. “Counselling will go on and we will not stop it. If the exam goes, then everything goes in totality, so there is nothing to fear,” said the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will hear the petitions on July 8.

Several petitions were filed in the apex court seeking direction to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leakage and malpractices in the test held on May 5. The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the NTA, paves the way for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. (ANI)