Students may be looking forward to transparency in the medical admission process and seat allotment promised by the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), but Karnataka, which was one of the few states to welcome it when it was first proposed in 2013, is not keen on implementing the all-India test this year, playing into the hands of private medical colleges and deemed universities, which are in no mood to give up their freedom in making admissions just yet.
The Supreme Court may have made the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) mandatory for admissions to medical courses across the country, but the burden of Karnataka students remains unchanged. They are still required to appear for the Common Entrance Test (CET) on May 4 and 5, the Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) Under Graduate Entrance Test (UGET) on May 8, and the second phase of NEET on July 24 , besides several admission tests of private medical universities.
With the state government moving the Supreme Court seeking exemption for state students from NEET for this academic year, neither the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) nor the private colleges are willing to call it quits just yet.
Read: Guest column: ‘Set your eyes only on NEET and do not waste your time on other tests’
Said a representative of a private medical college, “When the Supreme Court is scheduled to look into the issues raised by the private medical colleges' association , which is one of the petitioners in the case before it, from May 3 onwards, it doesn’t make sense for the entrance tests to be cancelled.” This means come Wednesday and 1.2 lakh students will write CET under a cloud of uncertainty, unsure whether it will hold any water at all. Similar uncertainty will dog those appearing for another exam on Sunday too, causing much anxiety in the student community , which has already suffered a great deal of anxiety over the PU question paper leaks of recent weeks.
“When the state government has upgraded its PU syllabus to NCERT status for all students from this academic year, why can't it now follow the Supreme Court order order and make it clear that NEET marks will be considered while allocating medical seats? Why must we be forced to write several examinations?” asked a fed up student, Shubha Pandit, who has been forced to prepare for CET and COMEDK UGET after appearing for NEET I held on May 1. “How can the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), COMEDK, and private universities conduct different admission tests even after the SC order?” demanded a PU lecturer, Ritesh Shet, adding, “Students have been struggling for NEET since a decade. But now vested interests are not ready to accept the change.”
Well known Supreme Court advocate, KV Dhananjaya, too warned that holding the CET, COMEDK, UGET and admission tests of private medical universities amounted to contempt of the Supreme Court order. “When the Supreme Court has made it clear that one admission test is all that is require, how can multiple exams be now conducted now?” he reasoned.
Cost factor
NEET may have done away with the need for multiple tests, but it is costing the students. While the application fee for the AIPMT examination (now NEET phase I) was a steep Rs 1,400, those who could not submit their applications on time, had to pay as much as Rs 2,800.The CET examination fee by contrast was just Rs 650 and those students, who could not apply on time, were not charged any late fee. An officer of the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) wonders how students will afford the NEET fee when many found the CET fee itself too high . “With NEET becoming compulsory, students have no option but to appear for it. But those who cannot afford the fee may have to opt out. This issue must be looked into,” he said.
Multiple examinations
Although the Supreme Court has made it clear that medical admissions will be done only through NEET across the country, none of the private universities of the state have cancelled their admission tests. The COMED-K too plans to hold UGET as scheduled on May 8. Said a representative of a private medical college, “We are waiting for the final judgment of the Supreme Court on the state government's plea for postponement of NEET. But with many private universities already completing their admission tests and a few other universities likely to hold their tests in the second week of May, we too will go ahead with ours in the interest of the students.”
Petition to CM
The Chief Minister's Office has received over 70 representations from students and their parents, appealing for postponement of NEET to next year as they are not prepared to write it this year.
Allow us to attend NEET phase II, plead students
Those students who have appeared for the AIPMT, now NEET Phase I, will not be allowed to apply for NEET phase II scheduled on July 24 going by the CET notification . But this too is making students unhappy. A student, Meghana Das, points out that those appearing for NEET phase II on July 24 will get nearly two- and- a -half months to prepare. "We prepared for the AIPMT examination while writing other examinations like our board finals and the JEE main and so couldn't do justice to it," she argued.
State’s appeal to SC draws flak
The state government’s decision to appeal to the Supreme Court to let Karnataka students appear for NEET from the next academic year, has not been received well by some of the officers of the state medical education department. “When state students have an NCERT syllabus at the PU level there is no logic in postponing the implementation of NEET ,” they argued. “Also, when states like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Delhi have already implemented NEET, why shouldn’t Karnataka?” they asked.
No watches, mobile phones for CET
The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) has asked all the candidates appearing for the Common Entrance Test on May 4, 5 and 6 not to wear wristwatches to the examination centre. The KEA has banned pagers, mobile phones, markers, white fluid, calculators, wireless sets and books. In all, 391 observers, 782 special invigilation and a total of 19,000 officials have been deployed for the Test. The CET will be conducted in 391 centres across the state, including 82 in Bengaluru. A total of 1,78,346 candidates are appearing for the test, of which 42,963 are taking exam in Bengaluru.
