Visakhapatnam: NEET sends coaching fees soaring

Visakhapatnam: The Supreme Court’s decision to make the National Eligibility and Entrance Test mandatory for admissions to medical courses has put medical aspirants in a quandary.

After incurring huge costs for the Eamcet medical coaching, parents have to cough up more towards coaching for Neet exam, which is relatively new for state students and based on CBSE syllabus.

Citing the difficulty level of CBSE syllabus, institutes have doubled the fees from about Rs 10,000 for Eamcet to Rs 20,000-30,000 for Neet.

“The Supreme Court’s final verdict has put all lingering questions over Neet and validity of Eamcet to rest and we are going to conduct classes for Neet exam from Wednesday. Though admissions started two weeks ago, it was kicked into full swing over the last three days. The fee is pegged at Rs 23,000 as we have to recruit experienced faculty to teach CBSE syllabus,” said R. Vijay Kumar, representative of a corporate college in Visakhapatnam. “Several other colleges are also charging more or less the same,” he said.

Meanwhile, HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao informed that the department is discussing the Neet issue with legal experts and exploring all options to continue with Eamcet ranks as a basis for the medical admissions in the state for this academic year. “If it is necessary, we would also set up exam centres for Neet Phase-II in the state,” said Mr Rao.

More than driving students towards preparation of Neet exam, addressing the mental agony associated with the likely cancellation of Eamcet exam has become quite problematic for everybody. The CBSE syllabus has been giving sleepless nights to state students.