NEET-UG Controversy: JNUSU demands minister’s resignation

New Delhi, June 26

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) staged a protest at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, demanding the scrapping of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination. The protest saw participation of scores of students, including members of the Left-backed All India Students Association (AISA) and Delhi University’s Krantikari Yuva Sangathan, who decided to hold an indefinite sit-in at the protest site.

The students carried posters and placards with slogans ‘Dharmendra Pradhan istifa do’ (Dharmendra Pradhan resign)’ and ‘Scrap NTA’. They also demanded a re-examination for NEET-UG and an end to the centralisation of exams.

Dhananjay, JNUSU president, said, “Recently, two examinations, NEET and UGC-NET, were conducted where lakhs of students appeared, and in both exams, there were big mistakes. We want to ask for how long the future of the students will be jeopardised for the sake of pennies. We demand that the agency behind these exams, NTA, be scrapped and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan take responsibility and resign.”

Another student highlighted, “Students got 719 marks, which is not possible since one wrong answer results in negative five marks. It’s not logically possible. Students who have been preparing for months or even 2-3 years and scored above 600 did not get good rankings”.

Delhi police detained the students participating in the indefinite sit-in, including JNUSU president. The JNUSU has been demanding the scrapping of NTA-held examinations for admissions into Jawaharlal Nehru University’s PhD programmes.