Neet-UG gets bigger as over 16L candidates register for it

Neet-UG gets bigger as over 16L candidates register for it

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:20.08.2021

One of the biggest competitive undergraduate entrance exams, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or Neet-UG has got bigger, breaching the16 lakh registrations mark for the first time. The number of candidates appearing in Indian languages too increased significantly in the last five years – up from 1.05 lakh in 2017 to 3.4 lakh in 2021.

The exam will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on September 12, 2021. Analysing the 2021 registration data accessed exclusively by the TOI, the number of registrations have shown significant growth in the last five years, up from 11.38 lakh in 2017 to 16.14 lakh in 2021. The number of candidates registering increased by nearly a lakh between pre and post pandemic period.

Women have been dominating this field of study and in the last five years the number of female candidates have grown by 40.8%, with more than 9 lakh candidates registering for the latest edition of the Neet-UG.

Neet-UG is administered in 13 languages, including 12 Indian languages. While the number of candidates taking the exam in Hindi has more than doubled in the last five years – up from 1.2 lakh in 2017 to 2.28 lakh in 2021, other languages too have witnessed gradual increase in the number of candidates preferring to appear in their mother tongue.

Apart from Hindi, Gujarati has the highest number with nearly 50,000 aspirants, followed by Bengali with over 35,000 candidates and Tamil with close to 20,000 candidates.

There are six states which have more than two lakh candidates and comprise 53.4% of the total candidates. Maharashtra has been sending the largest number of candidates, registering 2.16 lakh in 2021, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 1.93 lakh aspirants and Rajasthan third with1.16 lakh registrations.

Full report on www.toi.in