11.38 lakh students take NEET

Over 11.38 lakh students took the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) held across the country on Sunday.

However, there were reports that the authorities refused to allow some candidates to enter the test centres in some of the cities as they failed to follow the prescribed dress code. In the initial hours of the test, there were also reports about Bihar Police arresting two persons in Patna on charges of leaking the NEET papers.

However, there was no official confirmation from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on whether the test papers recovered from the arrested persons were original or fake. Last year, too, there were reports from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh about paper leaks.  However, it later turned out that the accused had previous year’s questions in possession when verified by the authorities.

The CBSE conducted the test at 1,921 centres in 103 cities across the country. The test papers came in 10 different languages. A total of 11,38,890 students appeared for the test. Of the total candidates registered, 1,522 were non resident Indians and 613 foreigners.

The test was held for admissions to 95,000 undergraduate seats. The results of the test are scheduled to be declared on June 8, a CBSE official said.

Dress code

The CBSE had barred candidates from wearing full-sleeve clothes, shoes and ornaments. It had also restricted students from bringing any stationery with them.

The dress code and other restrictions were put in place to ensure that a free and fair examination was held as use of high tech electronic gadgets for cheating in examinations have emerged as the new menace.

The CBSE had to re-conduct the All India Pre-medical and Dental Test (AIPMT) in 2015 as many of the students were caught cheating using micro bluetooth-enabled communication devices fitted into their ears.

At least 490 officials of the CBSE were deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the test across the country.
Besides, a total of 3,500 observers were also deployed, a CBSE official said.