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HomeIndiaTold to 'remove bra' at Kerala NEET exam centre, say students. NTA...

Told to ‘remove bra’ at Kerala NEET exam centre, say students. NTA says ‘no complaint received’

According to a statement by the National Testing Agency (NTA), officials of the centre in question in Kerala have 'stated they did not find any such incident happening'.

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New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA), has denied receiving any complaints regarding women candidates being allegedly asked to “remove their innerwear” while being frisked at a National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam centre in Kerala’s Kollam district. The NTA is responsible for conducting NEET, the entrance exam for admission to undergraduate medical courses.

According to media reports from the state that began emerging Monday, women candidates had been asked to remove their innerwear while being frisked at the Mar Thoma Institute of Information Technology, Ayur, Kollam, a NEET centre, Sunday. According to the father of a 17-year old girl, who appeared for the exam at the said centre and was subjected to this “uncomfortable” check, his daughter was “humiliated” after allegedly being made to sit without a brassiere for three hours.

The NTA, however, said in a statement circulated among members of the media Tuesday morning that no such incident was reported from the said centre.

“On the issue of a media report that a candidate appearing for NEET(UG) at the Mar Thoma Institute of Information Technology, Ayur, Kollam, on 17 July was asked to remove her innerwear, it is informed that — on the receipt of the report, immediate comments of the Centre Superintendent and the Independent Observer as well as the City Coordinator, Kollam district, were obtained. All three of them have, inter alia, stated that they did not find any such incident happening in the centre. The candidate did take the examination,” it said.

“There was no representation/ complaint to any one during or immediately after the examination. Nor has the NTA received any email/ complaint in this regard,” the statement added.

“As far as the NTA’s Dress Code for NEET is concerned, it does not permit any such activity alleged by the parent of the candidate,” it said.

The father of the NEET aspirant, meanwhile, has also lodged a complaint with the local police and sought action against the centre officials. The media reports also said that women were asked to dump their undergarments together in a room before the start of the exam.

The exam conducting body has also shared written and signed statements from the Centre Superintendent and the Observer at the said center. The Superintendent called the complaint “fictitious”, and the Observer said that they “did not receive any complaints of girls being asked to remove their innerwear during frisking”.


Also read: 80,000 seats, 7 lakh takers — inside story of why thousands of aspiring Indian doctors fly abroad


What is the NEET dress code?

As per the dress code given by the NTA, if the candidates are “wearing garments with full sleeves, with big buttons or badges, brooches etc, which could be used to hide tiny communication devices such as Bluetooth, camera, etc, they need to be checked thoroughly.”

It adds that “suspicious candidates may be asked to remove shoes only at the time of frisking/biometric”.

The dress code also mentions that “the NTA believes in the sanctity and fairness of conducting the Examination, however, it also believes in the Gender/Religious/Cultural/Regional sensitivity involved frisking/biometric of candidates and will issue comprehensive instructions accordingly to the staff and other officials at the Examination Centres.”

Past incidents 

This is not the first time that NEET’s strict dress code has created controversy. A similar allegation had cropped up in 2017, when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) used to conduct the NEET examination before the NTA took over.

In the 2017 incident, students had complained that they were asked to remove their undergarments before entering the examination center. At that time, the CBSE had clarified that the “dress code was meant to prevent cheating using high-end Bluetooth devices”.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also read: What forced Naveen to study medicine in Ukraine — reservation or NEET? Here’s the real answer


 

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