NTA finds 10 cases of unfair means adopted by NEET candidates

NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has identified at least 10 cases of unfair means involving smuggling of electronic devices into the exam halls by candidates during the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) held on July 17. There were other instances where candidates were detected with electronic devices during frisking and were allowed to take the test only after giving an undertaking and confiscation of the gadgets.
A couple of cases of attempted impersonation have also come to light where the candidates left the centres when questioned, NTA sources said. As first reported by TOI in June 2019, security of the question papers is another issue which NTA has been ensuring with the use of remote locking system where the boxes are opened at the designated centres just 15 minutes before the exam via remote controls from the centralised control system which generates unique passwords for each lock. The agency has also been using geo-tagging technology since 2019 to monitor where and when these 90,000 locks were opened.
As per the internal reports coming from various centres, accessed by TOI, of the 10 cases on unfair means verified so far, one of the candidates was caught accessing a mobile phone inside the hall at 5pm (the exam ended at 5:20pm). “The candidate’s cellphone was confiscated,” said a senior NTA official.
In another case, a microchip was found on a candidate, which was confiscated.
“In one case, during frisking there was a beep in the scanner indicating presence of metal. The female candidate suddenly said she was not feeling well and needed to use the wash room. When she returned and underwent the frisking, the scanner cleared her. Later, we found a mobile phone in the wash room, ” said the official.
NTA sees all this as a systemic attack to breach the high stakes exam. An expert said: “There is no easy way out as there have been instances of such types of devices being used. Organised groups are working to jeopardise the examsby breaching the safety net to provide unfair advantage to some unscrupulous candidates.”