With the Supreme Court direction to National Board of Examination to conduct the NEET-PG (postgraduate) examination in a single shift, a significant shift from the previous multi-shift format, the real challenge is before the board to execute the examination well and ensuring fairness and uniformity.

The exam is scheduled to be held on June 15 and for single shift examination, the Board has to add 900 centres more to accommodate 2,00,000 aspirants in one go, which is a mammoth task for the smooth conducting of examination.

The current network of 800 centres, mostly in urban hubs, will be insufficient to handle the volume without risking overcrowding or logistical failures.

According to officials in (NBE), the regional coordinators were dispatched to scout additional venues like colleges, universities, and even private institutions with robust IT infrastructure for the computer-based test. In fact, state education departments are being requested for access to government facilities. 

Another big hurdle is of having enough invigilators for smooth conducting of examination. The single-shift format demanded thousands of trained personnel to monitor the exam simultaneously. The NBE typically relied on local college faculty, but the scale now required roping in additional staff. 

Moreover, NBE also need to conduct training sessions to brief invigilators on protocols, ensuring no malpractice, verifying candidate identities, and managing time-sensitive processes. 

The NBE also faced the challenge of ensuring equity in centre allocation. Candidates from remote areas could not be expected to travel hundreds of kilometres. The board has mapped out new centres in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, coordinating with transport authorities to ensure accessibility. 

The top court while rejecting NBE submission that there isn’t enough exam centres to manage had said, “We are not ready to accept that in the entire country, considering the technological advancements we have achieved, the examining body cannot find sufficient number of centres to hold the examination in one shift. We direct that necessary arrangements be made for holding the NEET-PG 2025 examination in one shift, duly ensuring that complete transparency is maintained and secure centres are identified and commissioned.”

The bench added that holding the examination in two shifts would risk arbitrariness.

“Holding the examination in two shifts would invariably enable arbitrariness and not entail at-par evaluation of the comparative merit of the candidates who take the examinations. No two question papers can ever be said to be at an identical level of difficulty or ease. There is bound to be a variation. Normalisation may be applied and adopted in exceptional circumstances but not in a routine manner year after year, especially when the number of candidates is not unduly large, as is the case presently,” the Bench observed.

The Bench passed the order while hearing a plea challenging a notification on holding the NEET-PG 2025 examination in two shifts.