The student had chosen Nagpur as his preferred city to take the exam scheduled to be held on June 21.
An exam center has been allocated to a student from Nagpur who is scheduled to appear for the retake of the NEET exam in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, days before the exam on Sunday, June 21.
The student chose Nagpur as his preferred city to take the exam, which is scheduled to be held on June 21. However, he was allotted a center abroad, an error that was later fixed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), news agency ANI reported.
But the incident initially led to a state of uncertainty among the candidate’s family, who said that he did not have a passport, and they did not have enough time to obtain one. “We are completely unable to send our child abroad to take the exam. He does not even have a passport, and there is no time to make travel arrangements,” the student’s father, Muhammad Talib, told ANI. Reacting to the blunder, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out against NTA, saying the agency was “testing the country’s patience”.
“A regime that cannot provide a center in a child’s city but can send him abroad instead – has no right to conduct examinations,” the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said in a post on X website.
Admit card for May 3 examination allotted to Nagpur Centre
The admit card released for the NEET-UG exam on May 3 has allotted a center in Saraswati Vidyalaya in Nagpur to the candidate. But the exam was canceled after allegations of irregularities and leaked papers.
However, when the student downloaded the admit card for the rescheduled exam, he discovered that his center had been transferred to Abu Dhabi Indian School in the UAE, according to an ANI report. The student’s family said he chose Nagpur as his first choice while filling out the application form, followed by Wardha and Bhandara.
After discovering the discrepancy, the student’s family filed a complaint with the NTA helpline. The agency admitted the mistake and assured them that it would issue a revised admit card after verifying all the details. NTA Director General Abhishek Singh later told ANI that the candidate has been allotted a center in Nagpur.
Read also | NEET’s toll: 11 suicides reported after paper leak forced retake of exam
“Extorting the money and time of an entire generation”
In his post on X, Rahul questioned the mistake made by NTA and asked how it happened. “How did this happen? Yesterday, no student was supposed to have any complaint about not being able to reach their centre,” Rahul said. He further reiterated, “I said the same thing in Kota – this is no longer an education system. This is nothing but extortion of an entire generation’s money, time and mental peace.”
Rahul also called for a “sensitive, responsible and accountable education system and examination body.”
Former Maharashtra Education Minister Dr Anis Ahmed also criticized the error as a “serious lapse” and urged the agency to rectify it immediately by allocating a center to the student in Nagpur or a nearby city.
This comes even as the NTA has implemented security and logistical arrangements to conduct the re-examinations smoothly and transparently. The examination materials are being transported under strict security protocols in GPS-equipped vehicles along with police escort, according to ANI. Additional security measures are being taken at the examination centres, including CCTV surveillance, Aadhaar-based biometric authentication and real-time surveillance systems.
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