The NTA conducted the NEET 2023 examination on May 7, 2023, with exam centres all across India. Nearly one lakh students were estimated to have written the NEET 2023 examination in Kerala. The examination was conducted in 16 city centres across Kerala. The NTA had mentioned the schedule and instructions in the admit card clearly for the smooth conduct of the examination and to prevent unnecessary disputes. In previous years, there were issues raised by the candidates from the exam centres facing problems while security checking. This year no such controversial issues were complained about. But a few complaints have popped up regarding the conduct of the examination from a centre in Kottayam.

According to the reports based on student’s and parent’s responses, at an exam centre in Kottayam, Sree Narayana Public School, Channanikkad, the authorities failed to conduct the NEET 2023 examination as per the schedule mentioned in the admit card. To get accurate information regarding the issue we reached out to a couple of students who had their exam centre there. They said that they reached the exam centre at 11 pm following the schedule. But the gates were not opened. Making an hour’s delay, at 12 pm they opened the gates. Candidates along with their parents were waiting outside the exam centre under the hot sun for an hour. More than 400 students came to write the NEET exam. Due to the mismanagement of the schedule by the school authorities, all these 400 students were affected.

Between 11 to 1:30 was the time allotted for the frisking process, taking biometrics, and registration. An hour of delay at the entry time messed up all the other procedures. Without completing the biometric registration prior to the examination students were allowed to write the exam. It was after the exam the biometric registration was taken according to the student’s response. The candidate’s identification process was not conducted on time. The school authorities said that instead of four laptops they had only two laptops for the biometric registration of 400 students which delayed the process. But this was an act of utter carelessness since two laptops won’t be enough to conduct biometric registration for 400 students within a few hours. While conducting a national level entrance exam it was the responsibility of the school authorities and invigilators to make sure that there were enough facilities.

As prescribed in the admit card, between 1:15 and 1:30 was the entry time for the candidates to the exam hall. Entry after 1:30 was restricted, followed by the commencing of the examination at 2 pm. But the exam centre allowed the students to enter the exam hall at 1:50 pm. Again 20 minutes were delayed from the schedule to enter the exam hall. They started writing the exam at 2:15 instead of 2 pm. Cooling time prior to the exam was denied. Students came worried to the exam hall. Anyway, 10 more minutes were provided to the students to complete the exam.

Parents violently reacted to the authorities for the mismanagement of the exam schedule. Complaints had been raised against the exam centre. Also, they have asked to re-conduct the exam if possible. Amidst all the unfavourable conditions the students somehow managed to attend the exam properly within the given time. The poor organization by the authority was the reason for all the delays. The exam centre authorities should understand that the students come there, after one or two years of preparations and these kinds of mismanagement during the examination will affect their performance. The instructions and schedule listed on the Admit card were not only applicable to the candidates but also to the examination centre authorities and invigilators.