NEET exam cancellation leaves students 'traumatised'

 After the Centre cancelled the NEET UG 2026 exam amid allegations of paper leak and examination irregularities, a NEET aspirant, Yuvraj Singh, said that the news induces "mental trauma" in those who cleared the exam with hard work, calling the paper leak "an annual occurrence."

Singh, preparing to appear for NEET UG 2027, expressed the fear that the students of his batch already feel. He said that the students who studied hard for the exam held on May 3 must have been impacted adversely by the news of the re-examination.

"Since we are NEET aspirants for next year, we also have to take the NEET exam next year, so we are thinking that it has become almost an annual occurrence now; it happened in 2024 as well, and after that, we saw how many 720 results were achieved, so it has happened this time too. This is happening to people who are working very hard. Now think about that person who scored 650 plus marks; their seat in a Government Medical College was certain, and they must have been spending quality time with their family, but now that they've heard this news, imagine the mental trauma they must be in," he said.

Another aspirant criticised the National Testing Agency (NTA) over the administration lapses, questioning how the paper got leaked despite supervision, calling the incident "traumatic."

"If such a big agency such as NTA claims that it has GPS tracked vehicles, then it is not good when such a thing happens. After working so hard, when such a thing happens, it is traumatic," she said.

Another aspirant said that the exam reflects the aspirations of both the student and the families, adding that the cancellation and re-exam make the process tedious and impact the mental health of all those involved. He further demanded that the NEET examination be conducted in an online mode to prevent the recurring instances of paper leak.

"This is a dream for the children, the parents, and the families, and to fulfill this dream, it's not just a matter of one or two months of hard work; many children have been preparing since sixth or seventh grade. For those who score very well and are good at their studies, taking the exam again isn't a massive issue, but think about it: if you have to repeat a task over and over again... Even Prime Minister Modi and various agencies talk a lot about children's mental health. Think of those children who worked hard and today they are being told that no, you have to take the exam again in a month or a month and a half. They were ready to live their dream, thinking they would be starting college in just two months, but what happened today? And this problem is recurring; there is a way to solve it. We have been repeatedly demanding that this exam should be conducted online. If this exam goes online, this problem will be uprooted; the issue of paper leaks will never exist again," he said.

An aspirant from Lucknow seconded the opinion and called for the NTA to change the medium of the examination to online so as to avoid the hassle for the students.

"We cannot do anything about it now that it has been suspended. We are disappointed... The NTA should change the medium of the exam... We will have to travel again," he said.

Another aspirant from Odisha's Bhubaneshwar said that the process of re-appearing for an examination is "stressful" and urged the Centre to take appropriate action on the matter.

"The exam being leaked is a big deal... Appearing once again makes it more stressful... The Government of India should take a huge action on it," she said. -- ANI