As the fate of students aspiring to enter into medical college remain in a lurch, Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha demanded the government to bring forth an ordinance to stall the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for the current academic session.
Blamed the ruling BJP for failing to address the concern of the students before the Supreme Court, the Opposition raised concern about students passing out from state boards in vernacular languages and living in remote areas who will face the brunt of the new system.
Sharing the concern of members, government assured the House that it would try to convince the Supreme Court that more time is needed to switch over to the new system. Last month, the apex court had asked the Centre and CBSE to conduct a single common entrance test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses through National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET).
The court had also rejected the pleas of the state governments, private institutions and minority institutions for allowing conduct of separate entrance tests. Responding to the pleas made by the members, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government in principle is in favour of having common joint entrance test.
"We will convey to the court that children need more time... We will reiterate and try to convince the court," Naidu said, adding that some state governments have also approached the court in this regard. It is a serious issue and the court should appreciate it, he added. According to him, there are two views about common entrance examination as some private institutions and state governments are conducting their own tests. Some malpractices have also been alleged, he noted.
Insisting that NEET would 'destroy' career of students of state boards, a DMK member on Wednesday demanded in the Rajya Sabha an Act to "set aside" the Supreme Court order on the common entrance examination for admission to medical and dental colleges in the country. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, K P Ramalingam (DMK) said it is a very important issue which will "destroy" career of students studying in regional languages and state boards across the country. "Every state government has a right to fix syllabus. But the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), as a single entrance exam for medical and dental courses in the country, would affect the life of students who are studying in state board syllabus," he said. He said since the syllabus of NEET is based on CBEC, "it is totally unconstitutional and attempt to surpass" students, majority of whom are from rural areas and different educational background.
Ramalingam said in 2007, the Tamil Nadu government had abolished entrance examination for medical courses through an Act. Like Tamil Nadu, some other states too allow admission based on Class 12 marks, he added. These states believe that there is a "huge difference" in terms of content in their syllabus and that of the central board. It is "impossible" for the students to prepare separately to clear NEET, the DMK member said.
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