One week after NEET scam broke, MCI, NTA yet to act
TNN | Sep 29, 2019, 08.16 AM IST
TNN | Sep 29, 2019, 08.16 AM IST
CHENNAI: More than a week after the news about impersonation in medical admissions at government and deemed universities in the state broke and nearly four arrests were made, there has been no reaction from either the National Testing Agency, which conducted the examination or the Medical Council of India, the apex body regulating medical education.
Medical college managements say the scam could have been avoided had the NTA verified if the student writing the exam was the one who applied for the course. The MCI, by now, should have asked for a detailed verification along with fingerprints of every first-year student, they said.
“It is clear that the scam is not confined just to Tamil Nadu. It looks like a well-oiled multistate network. The centre struck down our state’s independent admission process and made merit in Neet exam the sole eligibility. Now, we find that the scale we used to measure merit is faulty,” said former director of medical education Dr A Edwin Joe.
Police reports are now showing that students and parents engaged other people through coaching centres and agents to write Neet examination in different cities. Officials at the NTA said they were taking fingerprints of students in the examination hall. “Initially we wanted to connect all hall tickets and scorecards to Aadhaar cards, but we were told that some students did not have the identity card. Which is why we decided to collect fingerprints in exam halls,” a senior official said. “Next year, we do plan to have a biometric system,” he added.
The state health department has sought fingerprints given by the students at the Neet examination halls so it can be matched with the students admitted to the first year. As of now, colleges have been asked to merely match photographs on Neet score cards issued by the NTA with that of pictures in admit cards issued by the selection committee and photos of students on campus.
“When there is a difference all we can do is raise a suspicion. It is a very crude way of verifying identity and we put bonafide students into a lot of pressure. Verification should be done by an appropriate agency,” said PSG College Dean Dr S Ramalingam.
“When we found a mismatch in photos of two students, we referred it to the selection committee,” he said.
The committee has cleared the students, but state health secretary Beela Rajesh said a detailed verification process will follow for all colleges in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, MCI chairman V K Paul said the investigating agency and enforcing agencies should ensure criminal action is taken against those who were involved in the malpractice.
“As a regulating authority, we will do whatever is required to help them and also ensure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Medical college managements say the scam could have been avoided had the NTA verified if the student writing the exam was the one who applied for the course. The MCI, by now, should have asked for a detailed verification along with fingerprints of every first-year student, they said.
“It is clear that the scam is not confined just to Tamil Nadu. It looks like a well-oiled multistate network. The centre struck down our state’s independent admission process and made merit in Neet exam the sole eligibility. Now, we find that the scale we used to measure merit is faulty,” said former director of medical education Dr A Edwin Joe.
Police reports are now showing that students and parents engaged other people through coaching centres and agents to write Neet examination in different cities. Officials at the NTA said they were taking fingerprints of students in the examination hall. “Initially we wanted to connect all hall tickets and scorecards to Aadhaar cards, but we were told that some students did not have the identity card. Which is why we decided to collect fingerprints in exam halls,” a senior official said. “Next year, we do plan to have a biometric system,” he added.
The state health department has sought fingerprints given by the students at the Neet examination halls so it can be matched with the students admitted to the first year. As of now, colleges have been asked to merely match photographs on Neet score cards issued by the NTA with that of pictures in admit cards issued by the selection committee and photos of students on campus.
“When there is a difference all we can do is raise a suspicion. It is a very crude way of verifying identity and we put bonafide students into a lot of pressure. Verification should be done by an appropriate agency,” said PSG College Dean Dr S Ramalingam.
“When we found a mismatch in photos of two students, we referred it to the selection committee,” he said.
The committee has cleared the students, but state health secretary Beela Rajesh said a detailed verification process will follow for all colleges in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, MCI chairman V K Paul said the investigating agency and enforcing agencies should ensure criminal action is taken against those who were involved in the malpractice.
“As a regulating authority, we will do whatever is required to help them and also ensure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
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