PM’s oversight of NEET exposes deep failures in education ministry

Hardly a day passes when one flaw or the other in the rickety education system of our country doesn’t get exposed. Now, technical issues in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) re-evaluation and verification portal. Several students reportedly faced difficulties while applying for re-evaluation and verification of marks. Candidates reported login issues, payment failures, slow loading and instances where the portal stopped responding during the submission process.

This is not something new; this happens quite frequently with those who regularly interact online with government departments. For students, technical glitches are yet another element of official ineptitude they suffer. It is the apogee of hubris and self-righteousness on the part of the Narendra Modi government that it continues to repose faith in Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, inarguably the worst-performing member in the Cabinet.

His sins of omission and commission are a legion; from the divisive and dangerous UGC Equity Regulations to regular leaks in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exams and now the CBSE fiasco, his incompetence is writ large everywhere. The level of incompetence is so huge that Modi has been forced to monitor the NEET exam.

This is what Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court recently. “We have prepared a new mechanism for the conduct of the NEET exam on June 21. It is being monitored on the highest level.” While the Prime Minister’s intervention underlines his concern for the young, it also highlights how useless Pradhan has been.

The intervention is a tacit admission that the Education Ministry is a blot on the government. The government’s own submissions before the Supreme Court suggest that extraordinary measures have become necessary because public faith in the examination process has been badly eroded. Repeated allegations of paper leaks, irregularities and administrative lapses have cast a long shadow over NEET, an examination that determines the academic and professional futures of lakhs of students every year.

The controversy has not been limited to a single incident; rather, it has exposed deeper structural weaknesses in the management of high-stakes examinations. The continuation of Pradhan raises serious questions. The ministry’s record in recent years, as we mentioned, has been marked by a succession of controversies.

Time and again, students and parents have found themselves bearing the consequences of administrative shortcomings over which they have no control, whatsoever. The latest CBSE portal glitches may appear minor when compared to the larger NEET controversy, but they reflect the same troubling culture of inefficiency and lack of preparedness.

For students already dealing with the anxiety of results and admissions, technical failures become yet another burden imposed by an unresponsive system. Such incidents diminish trust in public institutions and reinforce the perception that accountability is in short supply. If the Prime Minister must personally oversee mechanisms designed to ensure the credibility of national examinations, it inevitably raises questions about the performance of those entrusted with the responsibility in the first place.

Effective governance requires strong institutions led by competent administrators, not constant firefighting from the top. The government may celebrate the Prime Minister’s intervention as decisive leadership, but many will see it as evidence of a ministry that has repeatedly fallen short of its obligations to the country’s students. The need of the hour is to remove Pradhan.