NEET 2018: Examinees raise voice against Bengali question paper

Kolkata: Almost half of the total questions of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2018, which were translated into Bengali, were either full of errors or there was ambiguity in the questions.

NEET is the national level medical entrance examination. The exam has been conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) across the country on Sunday. Over 59,000 candidates from Bengal appeared for the examination at 99 centres across the state.

The students who wrote their answer papers with Bengali as the medium, have become upset as there were errors or ambiguity in almost 50 percent of the questions. It was also alleged that in some cases, there was no proper Bengali translation.

In another allegation, around 83 students out of 600 appearing for NEET at Kendriya Vidyalaya Cossipore received question paper one hour after the examination started, triggering chaos at the exam centre.

The exam was conducted on three subjects - Biology, Physics and Chemistry. Biology carries 90 questions while Physics and Chemistry carry 45 questions each. There are 4 marks for each question, taking the total marks of the examination to 720.

The students from the state who failed to answer the questions properly after opting for Bengali as the medium, are confused over the basis they will be evaluated on, or whether the national level board that carries out the examination, will take the responsibility of the alleged mistakes.

It can also be mentioned here that only around 3,000 medical aspirants from Bengal appeared for this year's examination in vernacular, while in the previous year the number stood at 34,000.

According to a revelation, around 97.48 percent of MBBS seats across the country had been bagged by the candidates, who appeared for NEET with English as the medium of examination, in 2017. Meanwhile, only 2.52 percent of medical seats were secured by candidates answering their paper in vernacular languages.

In the previous year also, there was a furor over the standard of the question paper in most vernacular languages, with the medical aspirants from Bengal and from some other states alleging that their questions were much harder than the ones in English and Hindi.

Initially, the Centre had tried to conduct the examination in English, Hindi and some other languages. It was stated that students opting for Bengali as the medium would not be able to compete in all India seats and they have to appear only for the state quota seats. As Bengali was opted out, the state government had urged the Centre to allow the students to appear for the examination in Bengali. The experts had also demanded that all the regional languages, including Bengali, must be treated at par with Hindi and English.

Dr A K Maity, an expert in the field of medical education in the country, said: "The Centre has been trying to bulldoze the sentiments of Bengali medium students. The CBSE cannot shed their responsibility in this manner and it must look into the matter with utmost seriousness. The brilliant Bengali medium students will not be able become doctors if this continues. The Bengali medium schools will be on the verge of extinction."