NEET to have Similar Papers Across all Languages to Ensure Uniformity
Earlier, The Supreme Court of India expressed its dissatisfaction to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for setting different questions for students taking National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) in regional languages.
The Apex Court of the country passed an order on December 12th that NEET 2018 will have indistinguishable papers across all languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Assamese, among others. The bench was headed by Justice Arun Mishra and concluded that there should be a common question paper across all languages.
A petition was earlier filed against CBSE for having set different question papers for vernacular languages. The bench argued on how the evaluation would have been possible if there was no standardized level of difficulty and insisted CBSE to consult with experts and file an affidavit regarding their plan about how they are going to bring uniformity in standards.
Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, in defense of CBSE, declared that the question papers were examined by experts who found similarity in the difficulty level for papers in Hindi, English and other languages. He also said that there was no co-operation from states when CBSE requested them to provide a translator for the respective languages.
In response to fears of thousands of students appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, the all-India examination for entrance to medical colleges in regional languages, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar declared the question papers in vernacular languages will be a mere translation of the question paper in English.
The matter was brought into light when the students complained about the difficulty level of the paper in other languages being higher as compared to the paper set in English language.
Dr. Sanyam Bhardwaj, Joint Secretary, NEET informed the bench that the recommendations have been sent to Principal of Board and Advisory Committee of NEET to introduce further uniformity in the exam.
Having a similar Question paper set will make evaluation process easier and ensure uniformity. This is an excellent step for bettering NEET and bringing about transparency.
NEET 2018 is scheduled to be held on May 10. The registration process for the same has begun in January. However, no official announcement regarding the schedule has been made yet.
