An official said that instead of bilingual question papers in English and Tamil, over 100 students in four examination halls were given question papers in English and Hindi.

In a major goof-up by the CBSE authorities, at least 100 NEET aspirants could not take the written examination at Noyes Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Narimedu after the officials brought the wrong set of papers for a section of them.

While a majority of the students came out of the school after 1 p.m., some of the parents who had come from different parts of the State were in for a rude shock as their children did not came out in time from the school. Initially the CBSE and school authorities refused to divulge the reason. A few parents who were worried about the safety of the children demanded to know if the children were still inside or had already left the school.

An official said that instead of bilingual question papers in English and Tamil, over 100 students in four examination halls were given question papers in English and Hindi. "These students had opted for Tamil question paper and hence the students could not take up the examination," the official said.

The police tried to pacify the agitated parents. Later, the CBSE authorities allowed a section of the parents into the exam centre. The officials also read out the names of the affected students held up inside.

“Copies of question papers are being taken and correct set of questions are being distributed to the students. CBSE authorities have said that all the answer scripts will be evaluated without any issues,” the NEET city coordinator P. Selvaraj said.

One batch of 22 students whose NEET examination was delayed came out at around 3.30 p.m.

Students said that they were provided with snacks and juice. However, lunch that was said to be provided to them before the examination began, was only distributed while they came out of the examination hall after finishing the test, the students complained.

Many students said officials had obtained their signature along with their personal details in a statement in English. The statement was meant to acknowledge that they (the students) were given the full three hours’ time to write the examination, one of the students added.

The students also complained that photocopies of question papers that were distributed to them were taken back by the invigilators.

Another batch of 90 students began their NEET examination at 3 p.m.