CBSE regrets Kannur incident, justifies policy

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently was seen regretting the unexpected incident at TISK English Medium School, Kannur (NEET Exam centre), where a 17-year-old student, appearing for the medical entrance exam NEET, was asked to remove her innerwear.

The CSBE through a public notice was seem clarifying the whole exam procedure and apologized to the student for the inconvenience cause. Following is the clarification issued by the organisation:-

The Incident reported at TISK English Medium School, Kannur came to the notice of CBSE through media reports as the CBSE officials present in the the city were neither informed by the principal of the concerned school nor by the parents of the candidate.

The dress regulation came into force after police reported to use micro enabled Bluetooth devices hidden in the ear and inner wears of the of the candidate during the conduct of All India Pre-Medical and Dental Test (AIPMT) in 2015. As a result, CBSE had to re-conduct the examination on the direction of the Honorable supreme Court of the India in the whole country due to such malpractice resulting in huge inconvenience to the candidates and wastage of resources. The Honorable supreme Court of the India directed the CBSE To developed mechanism for fair and transparent conduct of examination. In compliance, CBSE issued the guidelines for frisking and dress code of the candidates appearing in the re-conduct of AIPMT 2015, which was appreciated by stakeholders and also by the Honorable supreme Court of the India. The same guidelines are followed by CBSE in NEET 2016 and 2017 as well.

In 2016, the examination was conducted in two phases (NEET-I and NEET-II) as per the decision of the Honorable supreme Court of the India under the supervision of the high powered oversight committee headed by Justice R.M Lodha, former chief Justice if India. During these exams frisking of candidates was done to prevent cheating using high end electronic gadgets such as miniaturized Bluetooth microphones, other sophisticated electronic communication devices and possibility of impersonation.

CBSE has followed exactly the same "protocol of frisking" for NEET 2017 and also as was done in 2015, 2016. This year more than 11.38 candidates registered for the examination including PIOs, foreign nationals, OICs and NRIs out of which there were 6.42 female candidates. The exam was simultaneously held at 1921 exam centres between 10.00 am to 10.00 pm on 7 May, 2017 in 103 cities across the country under the supervision 124 city coordinators. For fair , smooth and transparent conduct of examination, more than 1.5 lakh invigilators, 3500 external observers, 490 CBSE officials and 10,000 police personnel were deployed at these centres. The overall attendance in NEET 2017 exam was approximately 95 percent with highest appearance of 97.10 percent in Srinagar (J&K)

The candidates were informed well in advance about the "frisking guidelines and dress code" and wide dissemination was made through NEET information Bulletin 2017 (chapter 11), CBSE NEET website, printed instructions on the admit card of the candidates including and "Undertaking from the candidates on the issue of frisking, prior knowledge of barred items and dress code" and individual communication through emails and SMS to sensitize the candidates. This is necessary in the interest of the candidates of such high value and high stake examination. To ensure that bonafide and deserving candidates are selected in NEET 2017, it is imperative to take suitable pre-examination precautions such ad dress code and frisking and candidates are advised to adhere such such guidelines in their largest interest.

The guidelines reported at TISK English Medium School, Kovvapuram, Kannur (Kerala) is very unfortunate and apparently due to consequences of few overzealous female frisking staff of the school (exam centre) involved in the process. CBSE has advised the school principal to tender the unconditional apology the candidate. The agony and inconvenience caused to the candidate inadvertently is deeply regretted by CBSE.

The board would further sensitize the frisking staff to obviate such incident in future. However it is important to mention there were more than 6.42 lakh female candidates registered for the NEET 2017 examination, which went off peacefully and smoothly across the country due to full cooperation and patience of the parents and students, which is highly appreciable.

CBSE would take all the necessary measures to insure that the students appear for examination in relaxed mood without compromising the sancity of the examination at the same time.