THE Centre has decided against conductingthemedicalentrance exam NEET-UG in online mode for now, and announced on Thursday it will continue to be conducted in pen and paper mode. The decision comes after detailed deliberations between  Education and Health Ministries on whether to conduct the NEET UG in pen and paper mode or online mode. “As decided by the National MedicalCommission(NMC),the NEET-UG shall be conducted in Pen and paper mode (OMR based)in a single day and shift,” a seniorNationalTestingAgency (NTA) official said on Thursday. The National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) is the largest entrance exam in the country in terms of number of candidatesappearingforthetest. In 2024, a record more than 24 lakh candidates took the exam.

 

The NTA conducts the NEET every year for admission into medical colleges.Atotal of 1,08,000 seats are available for MBSS course. Of the seats available for theMBBS course, approximately56,000 are in government hospitals and about 52,000 in private colleges. Admissions toundergraduate courses inDentistry,Ayurveda,Unani, andSiddha also utilise the results ofthe NEET for admission. The idea of switching toComputer-Based Test (CBT)mode for NEET is not new andhas been deliberated severaltimes before.However, the pushfor the exam reforms came following the paper leak controversy last year. The Centre hadinJuly set up the panelto ensuretransparent, smooth and fairconductofexaminationsbyNTA.