NTA’s silence on discrepancies in NEET UG results irks students

Mumbai: After the recent announcement of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET UG 2023) results, a growing number of students have been coming forward, claiming that there are serious irregularities in their scores. The students and their parents have raised their concerns on social media platforms by sharing their Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets and demanding an explanation from the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the alleged discrepancies.

On June 4, NTA released the OMR sheets (students’ original answer sheets), along with the answer key, on its official website neet.nta.nic.in. The results were announced only on June 13 after subject experts had thoroughly reviewed and addressed the objections raised by candidates. But even subsequently, the students pointed out that the marks on their OMR sheets differed significantly from those on their NEET result cards.

MP Supriya Sule tweeted about the issue and requested the director-general of the NTA to promptly address the students’ concerns. Highlighting the case of a student from Bhor in Pune district, she said, “The student’s OMR sheet, when tallied with the NTA answer key, indicated a score of 695, while her result card had a significantly lower score of 95.”

The MP added that there were inconsistencies even between the OMR sheet downloaded from the NTA website and the one she received via email from NTA. “Discrepancies include varying signatures of invigilators, the timing of signatures, and differences in thumb impressions between the two OMR sheets,” she tweeted, adding that the student also emphasised that the questions and answers marked on the OMR sheet were not hers, and that she had not written her roll number on that sheet.

A student from Kolhapur, who appeared for the entrance test for the second consecutive year, had fought a case in the Bombay high court last year for this very reason but did not get a verdict in her favour. “This year again, we faced the same issue with the OMR sheet,” said her father. “As per the answer key and the OMR sheet we received, my daughter should have scored between 665 and 670, but in the final she scored only 105. We wrote an email to NTA but did not receive any reply. We also demanded a carbon copy of the OMR sheet of the student, but NTA is not willing to give it.”

Another student, Prabhudutta Panda, tweeted on the issue as well. “Dear sir, I am Prabhudutta Panda, a Neet 2023 aspirant… As per the OMR sheet and answer key provided by NTA, I scored 598, but after the result was declared, it was only 403,” went the tweet.

The All India JEE NEET Students Association (AIJNSA) acknowledged receiving several complaints from students about the OMR sheets. “We have submitted a letter to the NTA,” said Vishwanath Kumar, vice-president of AIJNSA. “We presented an example of a student who was expected to score 675 marks as per the OMR, but got only 75 in the final score. We asked the NTA to provide us with a carbon copy of the OMR, but to date we have not received any reply from the agency.”

Activist Sudha Shenoy maintained that there was a “one percent chance of error from NTA”. “We have seen in the last two or three years that in most cases, students are not confident about their position,” she said. “If they are ready to prove their point and if their parents move the court, we will help them.”

NTA officials were not available for comment.