National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test: Pros and Cons.

With Supreme Court giving its green signal to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), there was immense satisfaction expressed by the student community. Under the proposed test, students wishing to enroll for medical courses will be required to write only one examination. Through this, candidates will get rid of submitting different entrance examinations in different States and there would be no fear of dates clashing with each other. Thus, if this procedure becomes a reality it will save immense time, money and energy of the students. But the big concern is when this will become a reality and what hurdles are there in the execution of this proposal.

The biggest challenge faced by the Medical Council of India (MCI) will be to draw up a syllabus and a question paper for such an examination. In addition to this, MCI will also be required to identify a competent agency to conduct this herculean exam across the country. After exams are conducted, the other important point will be the admission processes undertaken by different states. There might be diversity in procedure in terms of national quota or national ranking. This is possible owing to the chances that eligibility criteria for each state might differ.

It is also likely that various reputed institutions can set up their own eligibility list, based on their existing criteria and for this all they have to do is to seek a prior sanction from MCI. The Medical Council of India will also have to clear clouds about NEET being the sole basis of admissions or whether the NEET rank list will be considered as the base factor. There are chances that additional criteria might be applied by different States or institutions, including minority institutions.

After NEET, there might be a scenario where there can be a scope for a 50:50 seat-sharing agreement between the government and college managements. As a result, in all probability the fees for management quota seats would be higher.

Amidst all these apprehensions, there are voices which are against the proposed NEET exam. According to their point of defense, educational standards across India are not uniform. In this scenario, the hardest hit will be the educationally backward communities and in India. There are many states where educational disparities are very pronounced. Thus, MCI needs to come up with more details about the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test and make the procedure as transparent as possible. With Tamil Nadu registering its reluctance for any common national test, possibilities are that other states might raise their hands for disapproval. Whatever might be the decision, the bottom line is that both the MCI authorities must take calculated steps before taking that big decision.

Source: Prachi Srivastava (Shiksha Team)

Date: 21st March, 2011

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