A female candidate who appeared for the NEET exam in Kannur on Sunday claimed she had to remove her innerwear before sitting for the entrance test. Other women candidates too reportedly faced a harrowing experience due to the strict dress code.
The candidate told media persons after attempting the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) -- conducted for admission to undergraduate medical courses in government and private medical colleges in the country -- that she was asked by the examination centre’s officials to remove her innerwear.
“My daughter went inside the centre, only to return later and hand me her top innerwear,” her mother said.
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Another candidate, who was wearing a pair of jeans, was asked to remove a pocket as well as metal buttons from her attire.
Her father told IANS: “She was wearing jeans. Since it had pockets and metal buttons, they needed to be removed. I went to a shop about three kilometre away from the exam centre and bought a new dress for her after getting the shop opened.”
Those living in the vicinity of the school where the NEET centre was set up came forward to help candidates by giving them suitable clothes to wear.
“I know of a Muslim family which gave six tops to candidates to wear. Even more shocking was the fact that authorities did not permit anyone to wear full-sleeved top. Those wearing such sleeves had to cut it to make it short-sleeved,” said another harried parent.
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Several boys who came to attend the National Eligibility Entrance Test wearing full sleeve shirts were taken aback when they were told that only half-sleeve shirts were allowed in the examination hall.
Left with no choice, they had to "customise" it by cutting it to size by using a scissor.
Also, some who had come wearing shoes had to dump it and hastily opt for the sandals of their parents.
Some who had brought stationary items like pen, and pencil had to leave it with their parents.
The Central Board of Secondary Education, which organises the exam, has already mentioned that pens will be provided to candidates at the test centres.
Though it had given a list of do's and don'ts as part of measures to prevent malpractices, many aspirants were not aware of it.
The don'ts included big buttons, brooches and high-heeled shoes as regards female candidates and kurta-pyjama for male aspirants.
Mobile phones and gadgets like bluetooth devices were also barred.
The Do's included "bring Admit card," "reach on time" at the exam centre with "only the required documents."
Some aspirants had other complaints too.
A section of them said that they had a tough time locating the test centre and wanted more information and landmarks to easily reach the centres.
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Some students claimed that they were not allowed inside the test centre though they were late only by a "few minutes."
“The ordeal is over but it’s debatable how many female candidates would have been able to write the exam properly after they were subjected to so much humiliation. I will write to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to seek action against those responsible,” said state Mahila Congress president Bindhu Krishna.
NEET was held in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Tiruchirapalli, Namakkal, Tirunelveli and Vellore and about 89,000 students took the exam in about 51 centres in these cities.
The Centre Board of Secondary Education organised NEET 2017 on Sunday in as many as 104 cities across the country, for which more than 11 lakh aspirants had registered.
