Rajasthan’s Sikar emerges as major hub for NEET-UG

New Delhi: The National Testing Agency’s (NTA) centre-wise results of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2024 shows that the highest number of top scorers in the examination were from coaching hubs. Analysis of the result data showed that some examination centres, mostly in areas considered the coaching hubs of India, have a high concentration of well-performing students.

Meanwhile, candidates who allegedly benefitted from the paper leak and other irregularities in the NEET examination have not scored so well, the final result shows. The performance of the candidates from the centres under the scanner -- such as Oasis School, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand; Hardayal Public School, Jhajjar, Haryana; Jay Jalaram International School in Godhra, Gujarat -- were comparatively much below par.

While Rajasthan’s Kota is considered to be one of the biggest ‘coaching factories’ of India, centres in Sikar saw an increased number of top-scoring candidates.

In the Mangal Chand Didwaniya Vidya Mandir in Sikar, four students scored more than 700 marks, 45 scored above 650 marks, and 115 students scored above 600 marks. In another Sikar centre - Aravali Public School - 90 students scored over 600 marks.

The centre-wise data by NTA showed that over 27,000 candidates appeared at exam centres in Sikar out of which over 4,200 have scored above 600 and over 2,000 have shared above 450. While Sikar is still a budding NEET coaching hub, the 2024 results of the medical entrance exam put the city in direct competition with Kota.

In Sikar, four examination centres had a top scorer percentage of over 10 per cent, while only two Kota centres saw an above-average top scorer percentage. Sikar’s Tagore PG College centre saw the highest percentage of top-scoring students across the country, with over 20 per cent of the candidates scoring over 600 marks.

Last year, Kota had a total of 13 students in the top 1000 rank holders in the NEET exam. While this year the number grew to 35, it was surpassed its rival coaching hub Sikar. Sikar saw a total of 55 top rank holders in NEET UG 2024, while last year the city only saw 23 people in the top 1000 students.

According to the data, many students from Sikar are expected to bag a seat in a government medical college than from Kota, since the former saw a larger top scorer percentage this year. In all, 30,204 students scored 650 and above – 1.3 per cent of the 23.22 lakh candidates nationwide. Over 79,500 candidates have scored above 600. These candidates would have ranks in the top 30,000 and a chance at seats in government medical colleges. Of this set, examinees from Sikar alone will have a chance to claim 2,037 seats.