NEET, CBSE exam crisis: Kerala has written to Centre, says Education Minister Samsudheen

The Kerala government has written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressing its concerns over the NEET and CBSE exam crisis and seeking the Union government’s intervention in the matter, Minister for General Education N. Samsudheen has said.

He was replying to a Calling Attention motion moved by G.R. Anil, MLA, on finding a solution to problems faced by students in the State during exams conducted by Union government agencies, in the Assembly on Wednesday.

Mr. Samsudheen, replying on behalf of Minister for Higher Education Roji M. John, said the issue was indeed grave. NEET exams were completely conducted by the NTA under the Union government. The State government only made arrangements required by the NTA for the smooth conduct of the examinations. For coordination with Central agencies, a State-level coordination committee was formed as per a government order of March 29 last year. It included Sudhir K., former Director of Collegiate Education; Manoj Abraham, current Vigilance Director; Mohit Bharadwaj, assistant director of NTA; Arun S. Nair, former Commissioner for Entrance Examinations; and Suchitra Pyarelal.

On April 10, 2026, the NTA had conducted a meeting in connection with the conduct of the NEET in which Mr. Sudhir had represented the State. On April 16 and April 25, the Principal Secretary had convened a meeting of nodal officers and District Collectors in which the arrangements made by the State for NEET were discussed and reviewed.

Since the NTA was responsible for the conduct of NEET, the State government was not in a position to take action on irregularities in connection with the exam. As the CBSE answer script evaluation too was done by agencies under the Union government, the State government’s hands were tied here too, the Minister said.

However, as soon as the irregularities in CBSE Class XII evaluation came to the State government’s attention, a letter was sent to Mr. Pradhan on May 25 seeking the Union government’s intervention in the matter. The government, he pointed out, had made efforts to bring the difficulties and apprehensions of students in the State to the Union Ministry’s notice, Mr. Samsudheen said.

In his letter, Mr. Samsudheen urged that lapses in the on-screen marking (OSM) of answer scripts be examined, suspected evaluation glitches be addressed, scanning and digital verification processes be subjected to a technical audit, and a student-friendly, time-bound grievance redressal mechanism be ensured.

The Minister assured the Assembly that the State would continue to intervene in the Assembly in future too.

When Mr. Anil indicated that sending a letter to the Union government was “inadequate” and discussions should be held with the Union government on the issue, Mr. Samsudheen said he agreed with the MLA that the authorities concerned should have taken students’ grievances more seriously. However, there were constraints to the State’s interventions. Any legal help sought by students would be provided by the government, he said.

Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan underscored students’ apprehensions and said the Kerala Legislative Assembly’s concerns should be made known to the Union government.