Godhra NEET exam: District ups exam security measures

Vadodara: Panchmahal district authorities have taken stringent measures to ensure the smooth conduct of the NEET-UG entrance examination, organized by the National Testing Agency (NTA), following a major malpractice scandal uncovered last year in Godhra.
On May 5 last year, just before the exam, district collector Ashish Kumar exposed a well-planned cheating racket at the Jay Jalaram School in Godhra. A tip-off led teams from the education department and local police to the school, where teacher Tushar Bhatt was found carrying a list of student seat numbers on his phone and a slip of paper. He admitted that he intended to assist the students listed during the exam. A formal complaint was filed on May 8.
Bhatt and four others — Vadodara-based education consultant Parshuram Roy, school principal Parshottam Sharma, and middlemen Arif Vahora and Vibhor Anand Singh — were arrested by Panchmahal police. The case was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which subsequently arrested the school's owner, Dixit Patel.
In response to last year's incident, the district administration has significantly strengthened exam security this year. "A district-level committee, including the collector, SP, district education officer, and other officials, will oversee the exam. CCTV cameras will be installed, and all exam-related activities will be videographed. Adequate personnel will also be deployed," said Kumar.
Four exam centres have been designated this year, including three government-run institutions — Govt Engineering College, Govt Polytechnic College, and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya — and one grant-in-aid institution, St. Arnold School. In line with updated NTA guidelines, private schools are no longer permitted to host the exam. Notably, last year's two centres in the district — at Godhra and Wanakbori — were branches of the private Jay Jalaram School.