NEET, UGC-NET row: Kerala CM slams Centre’s ‘failure’ to protect integrity of national-level examinations

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan criticises Central government for jeopardising national exams such as NEET and UGC-NET, calls for fair and transparent examination process.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said the Central government’s “gross inefficiency” had undermined the credibility of important national-level examinations and jeopardised the future of lakhs of students. 

In a Facebook post on June 20, Mr. Vijayan said the Centre was constrained to cancel the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) after the National Testing Agency (NTA) could not guarantee its integrity. 

(The NTA conducts the UGC-NET twice a year to gauge the suitability of candidates for the positions of Assistant Professor, Junior Research Fellow and PHD courses.)

Mr. Vijayan said the new controversy surfaced close on the heels of reports that a “corrupt nexus” had compromised the integrity of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for Medical and Allied Courses. 

He said students and their families had invested much money, time and toil in preparing for the important tests. The NTA’s incompetence and lack of guard had left lakhs of students and their parents in the lurch. 

Mr. Vijayan also posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The controversy over NEET has barely subsided, and now the Ministry of Education has announced the cancellation of UGC-NET, citing compromised exam integrity. This repeated incompetence is unacceptable, leaving students in limbo and wasting public money. The Central Government must take immediate steps to resolve this crisis at NTA and ensure a fair, transparent, and reliable examination process”. 

Mr. Vijayan said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government, which was on “an overdrive to saffronise education”, had forgotten its primary responsibility to students.