Mumbai students forced to pick centres in Haryana, Assam

Chaos reigned on the first day of the registration process for the first ever National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for post-graduate medical aspirants. After the website meant for online registrations crashed several times on Thursday, city students were forced to pick centres in Uttarakhand, Ranchi and Haryana because centres in Mumbai and Maharashtra had filled up fast.

Around 8,000 medical students from the state usually take the PG entrance test. The state test was scrapped and NEET introduced this year. The website mentioned that centres would be allotted on a first-come-first-serve basis. As there were only seven centres in the state and four in Mumbai, students rushed to book their seats online. Students reached the bank from where they were supposed to collect vouchers as early as 4.30 am and waited till 9.30 am for the bank to open.

Since the online test is between November 23 and December 6, students were hoping to get a slot towards the last few days. A student said, "The server crashed at least three or four times while I tried to register. We continued trying to register for three to four hours, but with no luck. It is a three-stage form filling process and the server crashed erratically at any point. When I finally managed to complete the process, city and Pune centres were full."

Another student said, "By 10 pm, most places across the country were filling up fast. With no centres in Gujarat and Rajasthan, I was forced to choose Uttarakhand."

Some students who logged in early on October 5 easily managed to get seats in Mumbai centres. A student said, "Some of my friends who filled the form around 3 am, did get a seat allocation in Mumbai. We have been told that the process was much easier on Friday and students managed to fill up the forms in 15 minutes. Now as per the rule, slots and centres once chosen cannot be rescheduled or cancelled. Why then should the authorities claim that the system worked on first-come-first-serve basis?"

Most of the students who filled it up on Thursday to be on the safe side have ended up with centres in Ranchi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Assam, etc.

Officials from Prometric (who are conducting the online exam for National Board of Examination) remained unavailable for comment. According to a release issued by the Prometric, around 38,000 candidates registered for the test within 24 hours.

Prometric India MD Soumitra Roy said, "Scheduling instructions have been shared by NBE before the start of the registration window, and candidates were reminded at the time of online scheduling. Prometric continues to increase available seating for current test dates to address heavy registration demand. As a result of demand in individual areas, not all sessions may be available and candidates should select another session if their first choice is not available."