OneIndia Exclusive | Ex-UGC Chairman Sukhdeo Thorat On NEET Paper Leak Row

The NEET-UGC paper leak has become a major bone of contention for the Centre. Amid the protesting students and political backlash that has gained traction in the past few days, OneIndia's Nagen Singh spoke exclusively to Sukhdeo Thorat, former chairman of UGC.

Thorat spoke on plethora of issues regarding the conduct of entrance exams in India and had a few words of wisdom to share regarding the ongoing controversy that has affected lakhs of students all over the country.

Photo Credit: Screengrab from interview

When asked about the current scenario and how he looks at it, Thorat said, "This is a failure of the system that conducts entrance exams for medical courses. In the past 10 years things have drastically changed. Earlier, we had a decentralised system of test where students from All-India ranks were also taken into consideration. However now, after the introduction of the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, there has been a centralisation of admission policy. This undermines the autonomy of state and the education system."

"Secondly, the outsourcing of the conduction of examination is also an issue. Earlier, the UGC would conduct exams via their own employees, but now it has been outsourced to the private parties. This has created opportunities for paper leak," he added.

When inquired about his thoughts on contractual employees in UGC, he said, "It has negatively impacted the structure of UGC."

He also added that conducting exams online has prevented the students from impoverished backgrounds to score better, since they lack basic digital literacy due to their limited resources.

"Students especially from SC/ST backgrounds suffer the most due to this because they lack computer and internet in their homes. The Centre has implemented these rules without proper research and infrastructure. This has affected equal access to education for the Dalit and tribal students," he said.