SC raps CBSE for setting different questions for NEET in regional languages

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to conduct the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) in all languages across the country with similar questions of same difficulty level.

The common entrance test for admission into medical and dental courses is being conducted in ten languages.A three judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar asked CBSE to file an affidavit and explain as to how it proposes to have identical questions papers in all languages.

The court was hearing a petition filed by NGO Sankalp Charitable Trust. The plea stated that most of the regional language papers were difficult than the English and Hindi papers in NEET 2017 examinations.Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appeared on behalf of NGO and cited the ratio of students between who gave examination of NEET in English/Hindi with those who gave it in vernacular languages and how many of them got qualified had huge difference.

“The questions in vernacular languages were not identical to the questions in Hindi and English and this resulted in having different ratios,” Jaising told the bench.On this, the bench said, “The whole purpose of having a common exam gets defeated if CBSE does not follow the set pattern of questions in all languages.”Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for CBSE, admitted that questions in regional languages were not identical translations of the questions in English/Hindi.

Counsel appearing for Medical Council of India too informed the bench that questions were prepared in English and then got translated in Hindi but for setting the questions in other regional no language experts were available and hence difference questions were set but difficulty level of the questions were set.The bench then said, “Paper should have identical questions no matter what language it is in.”The court slated the hearing for October 10.