NEET UG 2021: Govt. indicates refusal on conducting exam twice a year; official confirmation pending

As per a recent media report, Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare has indicated that the NEET UG exam will have no changes this year. The Minister further stated that the NEET UG 2021 exam will be conducted in the pen and paper mode between June and July 2021. 

Note: The NEET exam date 2021 is expected to be out anytime soon. 

NEET UG 2021: Recent Indications

This recent disclosure on the conduct of NEET 2021 points to the following – 

• NEET 2021 shall NOT be conducted online or in computer-based test mode
• NEET 2021 shall NOT be conducted twice a year
• The NEET syllabus and exam pattern are likely to remain UNCHANGED this year

NEET UG 2021: Why no change in NEET exam pattern 2021?

As per the recent report, Amit Khare, Secretary, Higher Education, has cited the below-mentioned reasons for holding back the decision of conducting NEET 2021 twice a year – 

• Too short a notice – The Minister has mentioned that any changes in the conduct of NEET UG 2021 at a such a short notice shall be unfair to students preparing for the exam.
• Students must be informed about any changes at least 6-8 months before the exam – While there have been demands for holding NEET 2021 twice a year, Khare has stated that the decision on any potential change in the exam pattern of NEET must be given the bandwidth of at least six to eight months. “Also suppose a biology student is not comfortable with a computer, they need to practise and learn. That is why for any changes, we will give six to eight months’ notice,” he said.
• Delay to cause long-term issues – Moreover, any further delay in holding the NEET 2021 exam will affect the next examination season.
• There is a difference between JEE and NEET – Khare informed the media that conducting NEET UG exam multiple times a year in online mode requires “consultation with all the stakeholders”. This is because there is a difference between JEE and NEET – while JEE Main is not mandatory for all engineering colleges, NEET is a must for admission in all medical colleges.”
• Lack of consensus on time – While the MoE (Ministry of Education) was in favour of holding NEET 2021 twice a year and via computer-based test mode, an agreement could not be reached with the Ministry of Health on time.

Note: An official statement directly from the Ministry of Education on this subject is yet to be released.