The Kerala government has registered strong protest over the humiliating frisking of several girl candidates who had appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) examination in Kollam.
Complaints continue to emerge from medical aspirants who were forced to remove their innerwear at the examination centre in Ayur on Sunday.
Higher Education Minister R. Bindu has written to Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan seeking the Centre’s intervention against the National Testing Agency (NTA) which had been tasked with the conduct of the entrance test to MBBS and BDS courses.
Condemning the “naked assault on the dignity and honour” of girl students who wrote the examination, Dr. Bindu accused the agency of forcing the participants to strip before entering the centre for “reasons known only to it”.
“The shame and shock of this unexpected turn of events have affected the morale and composure of the students whose performance in the test was consequently affected,” she wrote.
She also recommended action against the agency to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
The Minister also wrote to NTA chairperson M.S. Ananth expressing strong displeasure about “such inhumane behaviour” from an agency that has “only been entrusted with the task of conducting the examination in a fair manner.”
She urged the agency to adopt effective steps to clarify its instructions to avoid such incidents.
