The Central Board of Secondary Education has decided to approach the Supreme Court against a decision passed by the Madras High Court asking CBSE to grant extra 196 marks to all students who appeared for this year’s NEET examination in Tamil.
The NEET is a national medical entrance conducted by CBSE every year. This year NEET was held on May 6, results of which came a month later, on June 6, 2018.
This year’s test was marred with controversies. This year, there were translation errors in 49 questions in the Tamil version of NEET. In response to this, T K Rangarajan, Rajya Sabha MP and CPM leader, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition in Madras High Court seeking redressal. On July 10, the Madras High Court ordered CBSE to grant four marks for each question which was incorrectly translated, which means, granting 196 grace marks to all the students who appeared for NEET in Tamil.
The judges also suggested CBSE to revise the list of eligible candidates. According to Mr Rangarajan, keywords in the question were incorrect when translated into Tamil from English, which further made students indecisive about the answers.
CBSE has challenged the decision of Madras High court’s order and moved to the Supreme Court in hopes to get a satisfactory decision. Every year, approximately 10 lakh students appear for NEET, and according to a report by PTI, this year, around 1.07 lakh students took NEET in Tamil Nadu, through 170 centres, across ten cities. This decision will have an impact on 24000 students who are waiting to secure a seat in Indian medical colleges.
The information bulletin of NEET exam had said: “candidates opting for regional languages would be provided bilingual test booklets in selected regional languages and English”. CBSE is taking the decision forward on the ground rules listed in the bulletin which says, “In case of any ambiguity in translation of any of the questions, its English version shall be treated as final.”
Rewarding marks as a result of the present confusion might adversely affect the admission process. Each year, an information bulletin is released by CBSE, and not many students pay attention to the fact that this entrance can be attempted in 11 regional languages, English, Hindi, Marathi, Oriya, Assamese, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati, Urdu, & Kannada. It is a very convenient and corporative move until the translations create a state of confusion.
While these events have left the students stranded and clueless about their next course of action, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has kept the release of allotment list on hold till the time the matter is resolved.
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