The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) for admission to medical colleges will have no changes this year. The exams will be conducted on pen-paper between June-July. Amit Khare, secretary, higher education, said it would be unfair on the students to make any changes on such a short notice and delay in holding the test would affect the new session.

The ministry of education wanted the medical entrance exam to be held more than once a year and on computers, but a consensus could not be reached with the ministry of health on time. With the success of conducting JEE Main multiple times in a year and close to 28% of the aspirants (based on the 2020 results) improving their scores in the second attempt, there has been a growing demand for the same for NEET-UG as well.

According to Khare, “In our view, NEET should be held more than once a year because at times it is possible that for some reasons, a candidate is not able to properly concentrate for a particular attempt. That should not result in waste of one year. But multiple exams cannot be conducted on pen and paper mode. It will have to be computer-based.”

Khare said offering NEETUG multiple times and on computers “requires consultation with all the stakeholders because there is a difference between JEE and NEET. JEE is not compulsory for all engineering colleges, whereas NEET is mandatory for admission to all medical colleges. 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.

Khare said the date for NEET-UG examination this year will be announced soon.