States will be asked to vouch for accuracy of translation of NEET question papers, says Centre
The Madras High Court has asked for 196 grace marks to be awarded to all students who took the test in Tamil this year, on account of mistranslation.
The Centre will, from next year, ask state governments for affidavits vouching for the accuracy of the translation of the question papers for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test by their experts, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Thursday, according to PTI.
Errors in translation in the Tamil paper this year had led the Madras High Court to ask the Central Board of Secondary Education to grant four grace marks each for 49 questions – 196 marks in total – to students who attempted the exam in Tamil. The CBSE has appealed against the decision in the Supreme Court.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member Vijila Sathyananth raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Javadekar said he would not speak much on it as the matter was in court. He, however, said the translators were provided by the Tamil Nadu government.
Sathayananth also said candidates from Tamil Nadu had to go to distant places – even to Rajasthan and Sikkim – to write the exam this year. Javadekar responded that he had already ordered that there would be no displacement of students from next year. They will write the exam in their own districts, he said, according to The Hindu.
The government had said a day before the exam that the students had been given centres outside the state because there was a “remarkable rise” in the number of candidates in Tamil Nadu.
Students write NEET to get seats in MBBS and BDS courses in colleges approved by the Medical Council of India or Dental Council of India. The test this year was held on May 6.