NEET Exam Controversy: Students in Kota Feel Helpless, Frustrated, Angry, and Confused

Newton Kumar and Lakshya Raj arrived in Kota two years ago with a single goal: to clear the NEET exam and become doctors. “My only dream was to become a doctor,” says Kumar, 21, from Samastipur, Bihar. His friend Raj adds, “I wanted to be the first doctor in my district.” However, their current NEET scores and ranks mean they won’t get into any good medical colleges. “The scariest thing in the world is for dreams to die,” says Kumar, referring to the recent education scam that has left NEET aspirants like him in despair.

NEET, or the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, is a highly competitive exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to medical courses like MBBS, BDS, and AYUSH in India. This year, about 24 lakh candidates appeared for the exam on May 5. However, since the results were announced on June 4, ten days earlier than scheduled, the exam has been surrounded by controversies. Issues like paper leaks, hidden grace marks, high cut-off scores, inflated ranks, and 67 students scoring full marks have raised concerns. In previous years, only a few students scored full marks.

Due to these irregularities, the Supreme Court will hear pleas on July 8 from petitioners demanding a re-examination. For students like Kumar, Raj, and over two lakh others in Kota, these complications mean starting over. “We dream only one dream,” says Raj, 21, from Bhagalpur, Bihar. “No student comes to Kota with a Plan B. Having a Plan B would mean we’ve already lost the battle.”

Shivshankar Singh Tomar, a 21-year-old from Gwalior, had taken a holiday after two years of studying for NEET. “I was happy with my score, but I was shaken when I saw the inflation in ranks,” he admits. His classmate, Vikas Patidar, 21, thought he would never have to return to Kota. “Our professors tell us to get out of this place as soon as possible,” he says. “When I saw my rank against my score, it felt like I was sinking into the ground.”

Instead of being at home with family or preparing for counseling, these students are stuck in Kota, dealing with the uncertainty of a possible re-examination. “It’s been more than two months since we attempted NEET. Before the exam, we had a rhythm and momentum to study. It’s all lost now,” says Tomar. “So much time has been wasted. We’re confused about whether to prepare for a re-examination or take a drop year to join classes for the next year. Will the Supreme Court give us enough time to prepare?” he asks.

Patidar adds, “Toppers will top, but what about average students who work hard all year only to be told to take a drop year? We can’t even concentrate now when we should be preparing for the re-examination.”

For some aspirants like Kumar, who studied in a government school and wanted to become a doctor to fulfill his father’s dream, it’s time to make tough decisions. “I’m still confused about continuing this journey. I think about giving up multiple times a day,” he confesses. “I don’t think I can attempt the re-examination with the same potential. I study all day but keep thinking, what if there’s another scam?”

For students who have taken multiple drops, it feels like life has come to a standstill. Tomar’s roommate, for instance, is on his seventh attempt. “He scored 645 but was still crying inconsolably,” Tomar says. Last year, this score would have given him a rank between 6,000 and 11,000. This year, it ranges between 25,000 and 29,000. “He hasn’t been home in seven years. He said he would return only if he got selected. Now he’s worried about relatives asking what he did in Kota for seven years,” Tomar says.

Shahzad Ahmed, a 23-year-old BSc graduate from Jamia Milia Islamia in New Delhi, saw NEET as a second chance for a better life. “I didn’t see any scope for biotechnology in India, so I had to pivot, but I’m nowhere today,” he rues. He fought opposition at home for changing streams and studied hard to compete against students who start preparing as early as 16 or 17. “Both age and time are not on my side right now,” says Ahmed. “We break from within when exam papers get leaked,” he says.

In the months leading up to the exam, students prepare for a realistic score of 620 to 630, studying 16 to 18 hours a day. By the end, all they want is to be selected. Ahmed appeared for the second time this year and scored 626. “I’m losing the strength to study again. It was my first day back to coaching last week, and I feel like I’ve forgotten everything. I’m frustrated about being stuck here and still having to ask for money from home at 23.”

For guardians, money is a big concern too. On average, a student in Kota can spend up to Rs 4 lakh a year on tuition, stay, food, and other expenses. “When you’re a drop year student, a guardian is already shattered financially,” Raj says. “A student scores beyond 600, there’s a scam, and they don’t get selected. The students and guardians feel there’s nothing left for them in the world.”

Raj stayed back in Kota at his professors’ insistence. “Give it one more shot, they told me,” he says, adding that he has started classes again. “But the thought of preparing for exams again despite getting a decent score bites me from within. This is not a small journey. We prepare day and night for this. There’s no time for hobbies or sports. The whole experience has been emotionally damaging for us and our parents.”

The faculty in Kota is known for their motivational speeches and support, but for the past two months, they have had no answers to comfort the students. Sunil Nain, director and founder of BeWise Classes, a Kota-based coaching center for NEET aspirants, says students are feeling insecure and have no motivation left. “The three hours and 20 minutes of the exam are the toughest in a student’s life after a year of studying. Now they’ll have to take a drop unwillingly and go back to the same life. Are students’ feelings and emotions a joke?” he asks.

Students studied for the exam with last year’s cut-off of 609 in mind. Nain talks about a student who scored 657 and came to the coaching center with sweets and gifts. “Now, she won’t even get into the top 50 colleges. Students have distributed sweets, had their photos printed in newspapers, and are now dealing with society’s taunts like they must have cheated,” says Nain.

The emotional trauma of the NEET scam is not limited to the 24 lakh aspirants but also affects their families and siblings. “A student works for one exam, one college, one dream. And it gets shattered in a moment,” says Triyogi Narayan Mishra, a professor of physical chemistry at a coaching center in Kota.

Mishra is trying to push NEET aspirants to keep revising the syllabus while managing worried parents. He narrates the story of a student who sold all his study material after scoring 620-plus, confident of getting a seat. “He belongs to a farming family from Aurangabad. His father calls me constantly to arrange for books and notes, but I can’t give them any reassurance,” Mishra says. “This year is shocking, sad, and frustrating, even for us, because students’ results are our results.”

The students’ situation is like a train without a destination, he adds. “They don’t know what journey to take or where to end it. The uncertainty isn’t letting them prepare or withdraw. It’s the worst scenario for students to be in. We don’t know which side of the boat we’re on. The uncertainty destroys you.”

Ajit Chandra Divedi, a faculty member for organic chemistry at the same institute, says the same aspirants who were celebrating their scores are now crying. “I know students who wanted to give up but stayed back because we saw potential in them. Now what do we tell them?” Divedi asks.

From January to April, students study intensely, ready and energized to take the exam. “We wish we weren’t at this juncture when all that energy and momentum is lost,” Divedi says. “We tallied the answer key with students and assured them they were in a safe zone, but now I’m attending calls from students crying in the middle of the night. They aren’t eating or sleeping.”

A lifetime of dreams is at stake, say the professors. “We say our future will be secure if our present is secure. The students are our future, but their present looks so weak,” he adds.

Nain thinks that if there is no re-examination, we will be staring at a country full of fraudsters, referring to the film Munnabhai MBBS, which depicts a gangster becoming a doctor. “We don’t want fraudsters. We want doctors,” says Nain and his class full of NEET aspirants.

Tomar warns that due to such scams, the country will be confused about which doctors to trust in the future. Students are not very hopeful about the possibility of a re-examination but aren’t ready to stop fighting. “For us, the NTA means No Trust Agency or Never Trust Agency. They aren’t aware of our sacrifices,” says Patidar. “When a drop year student doesn’t give up on NEET year after year, why will we now? We will not stop till the NTA accepts its mistake.”