I/II. http://scroll.in/article/808528/its-confusing-centres-ordinance-on-neet-elicits-mixed-responses-from-medical-aspirants
'Confusion must end': Centre's ordinance on NEET elicits mixed responses from medical aspirants While many students are happy to get another year to prepare for a new, centralised entrance exam system, some were hoping it would be introduced this year. an hour ago Updated an hour ago Aarefa Johari The controversy over the common entrance exam for aspiring medical students is not likely to abate soon. On Friday, a month after the Supreme Court ordered that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test should be held this year across India, the central government moved an ordinance to stay the order and defer NEET for a year to give students more preparation time. The ordinance still needs to be officially promulgated and approved by the President, but political backlash has already begun – both the Congress and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal have criticised the ordinance and accused the Centre of trying to serve the interests of the medical lobby. However, those most directly affected by the oscillations over NEET are students preparing for various medical entrance exams in their respective states. All these years, medical college admissions were based on the results of the All-India Pre-Medical Test or – in states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and others – the Common Entrance Test. The Medical Council of India has been proposing an all-India NEET for at least five years, and on April 11, the Supreme Court’s order introduced NEET across the country this year itself, for admission into both private and government-run medical colleges. The All-India Pre-Medical Test that took place on May 1 was considered as phase one of NEET, while phase two was to be held on July 24 for those who could not appear for the first phase. The Centre’s attempt to reverse this court order has come after hundreds of medical aspirants raised objections to the sudden, almost last-minute introduction of a new system. On Friday, however, students, parents and medical entrance coaching institutes had mixed reactions to the ordinance. ‘Happy if ordinance is passed’ “Our students will definitely happy if the government’s ordinance is passed, because the lack of clarity on NEET has been stressful for them,” said Ankesh Karn, a coordinator at Dr Bhatia’s Medical coaching centre in Mumbai. For nearly two years, students at the coaching centre had been preparing for the Maharashtra board syllabus for the state’s Common Entrance Test. “If they have to sit for NEET this year itself, they will find it very tough to compete with students from other states following different syllabi.” Maharashtra’s Common Entrance Test was held on May 5, and nearly all medical aspirants in the state appeared for it. Some, according to coaching institutes, also appeared for NEET phase one on May 1, but most students chose to wait for a final decision from the central government before deciding whether to appear for phase two in July. “Although students have given the state CET, the Supreme Court order caused confusion because they were not sure if their CET would still be valid and whether its results would give them a seat in a state medical college,” said Tushar Mishra, management head at Mumbai’s Rao IIT coaching classes. ‘The syllabus is not tougher’ In Madhya Pradesh, where the All-India Pre-Medical Test was already in use, students and parents are not too thrilled about the central government’s ordinance. “At present there are more than a hundred medical entrances being conducted across India, with each major private college holding its own exam,” said a parent of a medical aspirant from Madhya Pradesh, who did not wish to be named. “The Supreme Court’s order was clear that all of these exams would be replaced by a single NEET. But the ordinance does not specify whether private medical colleges this year will admit students based on the NEET or the any of the other tests.” While this confusion will be clear once the ordinance if formally promulgated, the parent believes a common NEET will prevent malpractices and corruption in the admission process at medical colleges. “Besides, I appeared for NEET phase one and the paper wasn’t tough at all – the syllabus is similar even in states with their own entrance tests,” said Harsha Sara Joseph, a medical aspirant in Raipur. Tushar Mishra from Maharashtra happens to agree with Joseph. “I don’t know why students believe the NEET will be tougher to prepare for at such a short notice – the Maharashtra board syllabus is now in sync with the CBSE [Central Board of School Education],” said Mishra. II. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/the-neet-solution-by-endorsing-neet-supreme-court-comes-to-the-aid-of-aspiring-medical-students/ The NEET Solution: By endorsing NEET, Supreme Court comes to the aid of aspiring medical students May 19, 2016, 2:00 AM IST Devi Shetty in TOI Edit Page I was on the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI) in 2010. We conceptualised a single national eligibility exam that addressed the pain of lakhs of aspiring medical students who criss-cross India to write over 100 entrance tests. We proposed a fair and simple test, modelled on examination systems like SAT, GRE, TOEFL. Our proposal was eventually adopted as NEET but sadly, there was no political will to implement it then. In April this year, Judges of the Supreme Court earned the blessings of lakhs of underprivileged students when they asked the CBSE to implement NEET in 2016, despite opposition from states and individuals across party lines. To understand this opposition, you have to understand that as many as 80 parliamentarians are reported to have stakes in medical colleges. Let’s try to understand facts behind NEET and dispel some myths. The total number of MBBS seats, according to the MCI website, is 49,990. Out of this 25,330 are in government medical colleges and 24,660 are in private colleges. Historically, government medical colleges admission happens through AIPMT or CET conducted by various state governments in a transparent manner. Now CET will be replaced by NEET with no major controversy. The controversy over NEET relates to the 24,660 medical seats in private colleges. Will private colleges lose their “management quota” seats under NEET? No, private medical colleges and minority institutions will continue to have the same number of medical seats as before NEET. However, admission to those seats will be based on NEET ranking, maintaining the objectives of minority institutions and spirit of private enterprise. Neither will NEET in English adversely affect children from rural India. Most state governments, including states like Karnataka, always conducted CET in English. Fifteen per cent of medical seats across the country are now allotted by the central government through AIPMT conducted by CBSE, which is primarily in English. This year roughly 12 states, including Delhi, MP, Haryana and Odisha, have decided to admit all their students to government medical colleges from AIPMT only. Historically, for 24,660 MBBS seats in private colleges more than 100 entrance tests are conducted only in English. So there is no change in the language of entrance tests to all the private medical colleges. Neither are students from government schools handicapped from excelling in NEET. For the 25,330 medical seats in government colleges admission through CET across the country is conducted to assess knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology. Irrespective of the syllabus, the human heart can be taught in only one way. For 24,660 private medical seats, over 100 entrance tests are done not based on any specific syllabus. Prestigious colleges like CMC Vellore and St John’s Medical College have their own style of conducting entrance tests with integrity, not based on any syllabus. Historically, children from English medium schools always had greater chances of getting admission to medical colleges, IIT and IAS. NEET cannot change that reality. In 2013, when a vernacular NEET was conducted not a single vernacular language candidate could get admission. A vital piece of information is concealed from the general public in the whole NEET debate: MBBS is taught only in English. According to MCI regulations, only students who have passed the 12th standard English paper are eligible to join medical college irrespective of their medium of education. Historically, students could not join medical college in India without proficiency in English. As a student from a Kannada medium school, i really struggled in PUC and first year of MBBS. When English medium students learnt the constitution of the human body, i was struggling to learn English to learn about the human body. But that did not prevent me from getting trained in some of England’s best hospitals. Neither will bright students from progressive states take away seats from the state quota of weaker states. Each state government will create a separate merit list for their students based on NEET ranking. NEET is just a tool to grade students and make the selection fair, without taking away from a state’s privilege to protect the interest of its students. The same applies to minority institutions. They retain the privilege of offering seats to the students of their community, NEET will only provide a rank based on which minority institutions can create their merit list in a fair manner. The time given by the Supreme Court to students to prepare for NEET is not too short either. Most students aspiring to join medical colleges prepare for CET or AIPMT. NEET is not different from existing exams conducted by the government. Time given for preparing for the exam is the same for everyone, standardising conditions for everybody. I would like to request MCI to convert medical education into an apprenticeship programme like in the West, emphasising skill building rather than physical infrastructure. This will allow conversion of 500 district hospitals in backward parts of the country into medical colleges, with modest investment. In my experience doctors with fire in the belly and magic in their fingers, who have changed the face of medicine, come from deprived backgrounds. NEET is our last chance to give those underprivileged students a fair chance at a medical education, and build a corps of dedicated doctors that will ensure a healthy future for our country. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
