Important Points You Need to Note About the Ongoing NEET Controversy

BENGALURU: National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) recently came into news for all wrong reasons after strong protest from students and colleges against its practice. There is amid confusion surrounding over the common medical examination, keeping the students in dark on the real problem of the NEET controversy. Here are some points compiled by The Economic Times website that will help you to understand the controversy surrounding NEET and what it is all about:

What is NEET?

In the year of 2013, Medical Council of India (MCI) made a notification that a single entrance examination will be conducted for MBBS and postgraduate medical courses. By using NEET scores, candidates can apply to any medical college across the country. The NEET scores will not be applicable for the colleges in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. However, the Supreme Court rolled down NEET after some institutions moved to the court stating that it will violate the rights of minority institutions.

NEET’s Background

The states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh opposed NEET by mentioning that this test will infringe the rights of the state, as education is a subject of state policies. The Supreme Court of India called the test ‘unconstitutional’ by deliberating that it will stop state-run colleges and universities from the right of student evaluation according to their pre-defined criteria.

Problems behind NEET

Fifteen states urged JP Nadda, Union Health Minister to appeal in Supreme Court to implement NEET in the academic year 2017-18, deliberating that it is difficult to implement it in the current academic year. Another problem was that the students from non-CBSE boards would not get enough time to prepare for the exam as the centralized test is based on CBSE curriculum that is different from other board’s syllabus. The absence of regional language options was also a problem as it will restrict students from non-English background to score well in NEET.

Main Controversy

On April 11, 2016, The Supreme Court accepted the review petition and summons back from the 2013 judgment, which means NEET needs to be conducted in the current academic year. On 28 April, another petition was filed in the court that had again got pressure on the government to conduct exam in 2016. The Supreme Court then allowed conducting the exam in two phases: NEET-1 on May 1 and NEET-2 on July 24. The combined results of both the tests are scheduled to be declared on August 17.

On 29 April, the government again went to court to seek judgment modification that state governments and private colleges can conduct a separate entrance exam for BDS and MBBS courses for the year 2016-17. However, the court declined the plea on April 30 and issued an order to conduct exam in a similar way as directed previously. CBSE conducted the first phase of NEET on May 1 and about six lakh students appeared in that. On May 20, the cabinet passed an ordinance that for state boards NEET implementation will be postponed until 2017-18 academic year. Opposition parties slammed the decision by alleging that this decision is passed on providing favors to private medical colleges instead of students but the government denied these allegations.

Latest Happenings over NEET Row

President Pranab Mukherjee instructed the state boards to skip NEET and postpone uniform medical entrance examination for a year, by signing an order. This ordinance passed by the cabinet and signed by President is partially overruling the previously given judgment by the Supreme Court of India.

Read Also:
First 'Made in India' space shuttle test-launched by ISRO
Pranab Invites Chinese To 'Make In India'