State sticks to CET on May 5 as candidates say preparing for CBSE syllabus-based NEET not possible within three months
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Nagpur:The apex court’s order directing the Medical Council of India to hold the National Entrance and Eligibility Test (NEET) from this year itself has put hundreds of medical aspirants from Maharashtra and other states in a fix. They are supposed to prepare for an exam which is not only based on a different syllabus, but is also to be held within three months.
The order has also put a big question mark over the fate of state-level CET, which is slated to be held on May5. While the state CET is based on Maharashtra board syllabus, the All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Test (AIPMT), now NEET, is crafted on CBSE syllabus. Over 1.4 lakh students have applied for CET. It is unclear, how many of them have applied for AIPMT as well.
Soon after the ruling, nervous state candidates watched TV, surfed new websites and called each other and authorities for clarity but to no avail. There was no communication from the state medical education department or education minister Vinod Tawde in this regard till the time of going to press.
The apex court has said that the AIPMT, which is already being conducted by the CBSE, would be considered as NEET. However, to accommodate all those aspirants from across India who had not applied for the AIPMT, which is scheduled for May 1, the court has asked the CBSE to hold another phase of the NEET on July 24. The application form for the second phase would be available from May7.
This implies that medical aspirants from Maharashtra and other states, who haven’t applied for the AIPMT before, would now get less than three months to prepare for the NEET, whose syllabus and pattern both are quite different from the state-level CET, says Dr Sagar Mundada, president of Maharashtra Resident Doctors Association.
“We are fed up with the frequent changes in entrance exams in India. Since the interim order of the apex court on April 11, we were not able to concentrate on studies. This would affect our performance but nobody seems to care,” said a Nagpur aspirant.
The last-minute decision of the court has not only affected the candidates but also the authorities. The directorate of medical education, the body which conducts the CET, has already spent lots of money, energy and time in inviting forms, booking exam centres and printing question papers among other things.
AT A GLANCE:
AIPMT, which is scheduled for May 1 and for which 6,67,637 candidates are to appear at 1,040 centres in 52 cities, including abroad, will be considered as NEET-1. This will protect the interests of students who had already applied for this entrance test.
NEET-2 will be conducted for the remaining candidates, and the entire process, from collection of information from states to declaration of results, will begin from May 7. NEET-2 will be held on July 24.
NEET results will be published by the CBSE on August 17
