New Delhi: The Ministry of Education and the National Testing Agency (NTA) have introduced several new measures to ensure the smooth and secure conduct of NEET-UG 2025, scheduled for May 4. These steps include adding over 700 new examination centres compared to last year, strengthening district-level involvement, and enhancing security arrangements, such as police escorts for question papers.
Officials confirmed that NEET-UG 2025 will take place in 5,500 centres, a significant rise from 4,750 centres in 2024 and 4,097 centres in 2023. More than 24 lakh candidates appeared for the exam last year.
The Ministry has closely monitored preparations this year, especially after last year’s paper leak, which led to severe criticism of the NTA. Following the incident, the government formed a high-level committee led by former ISRO Chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishnan to recommend ways to improve the conduct of public examinations.
Based on the committee’s suggestions, the Ministry has set up district-level coordination committees, headed by the District Magistrate and including police officers. These committees have played a key role in selecting and verifying testing centres. Officials said the NTA prioritised government-run schools and colleges while finalising the centres.
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These committees have also checked that every exam centre is equipped with functional CCTV cameras and necessary infrastructure. Additionally, the NTA and district officials ensured that the exam centres have ground-floor rooms, secure surroundings, and reliable security systems.
The District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police now oversee the secure delivery of question papers to centres and the return of OMR sheets to the nodal officers for submission to the NTA. They are also conducting pre-exam inspections to confirm that all arrangements are in place.
To further improve safety, the Ministry has added a multi-layered frisking process. Earlier, exam centres used only hand-held metal detectors, but now district police and NTA-appointed security personnel will carry out detailed frisking.
A senior official stated that the Secretary of Higher Education has held several meetings with District Magistrates and police officials to ensure their full cooperation. This includes providing police escorts, verifying the identity of candidates, and maintaining security at all testing locations.
These actions reflect the government’s commitment to conducting NEET-UG 2025 in a fair, secure, and transparent manner.
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