In a major relief for 365 students of Karnataka, who missed the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) due to railway delay, the HRD ministry has issued a fresh date for the exam. The students couldn’t appear for the exam on Sunday as the train in which they were travelling reached the Bengaluru station with a delay of 07 hours.
Announcing the same on Twitter, HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar said, “Happy to announce that #Karnataka students who missed #NEET exam due to railway delay will get another chance”.
Notably, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had urged the HRD minister to hold the test for the students who missed it for no fault of theirs. Mr Javadekar’s response came a day after and was much cherished by the chief minister.
“Thank you @PrakashJavdekar and @HRDMinistry for considering the request and helping our students,” tweeted Kumaraswamy.
Notably, the exam was scheduled to start from 2.00 PM but the students who were travelling in Hampi Express from Hubli to Mysuru via Koppal, Hospet and Bellary, reached Bengaluru over 7 hours late at 2.36 PM, instead of 7.00 AM.
The railways admitted the delay but attributed it to the diversion of the train route from the normal route, owing to doubling of line work and operational reasons since May 3, 2019.
Interestingly, apart from these 365 students, another set of 150 students also missed the test owing to the last minute change in the exam centre. As per reports, their exam centre was shifted to Bengaluru from Chikkaballapur without prior intimation or information to them.
They could not commute to the city, which was 40KM away from the initial exam centre, by 2:00 p.m and missed it for no fault of them.
Mr Kumaraswamy has asked the state Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar to request the HRD Ministry for holding the test again for the 150 students. HRD Ministry has assured the state that a decision would be taken soon, reads a post on state CM’s twitter handle.
NEET is an annual exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) of the HRD ministry in the month of May. This exam is held for the students to secure admission to state-run and private medical and dental colleges across the country for studying graduate and post-graduate courses.
