The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test should have a common question paper. It pulled up the Central Board of Secondary Education for setting different questions for students taking the examination in regional languages. It also asked the CBSE to file an affidavit explaining the method it will choose to conduct the exam from next year, The Indian Express reported.
Neet was held on May 7 in 10 languages – Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. Around 10% of students opted for papers in regional languages, CBSE said.
Students from Gujarat and West Bengal had complained that the regional papers were tougher than the one in English. However, candidates from Tamil Nadu had said that the Tamil paper was easier. Their complaints raised many questions on uniformity, which was the basic tenet of the Neet.
On July 23, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar had said that all candidates taking the exam will have common questions from 2018.
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