Bengaluru: Around 60,000 students from the state are getting ready for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), which will be held on May 7 for admission to medical and dental undergraduate courses. But with the examination scheduled to be held in just eight cities in Karnataka, many students, especially those from poor families, are finding it difficult to arrange for the travel and boarding involved.
Going by the CBSE notification, NEET will be conducted in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Mysuru, Udupi, Davanagere and Hubballi.
"Originally the examination was scheduled to be held in only four centers. But later seeing the huge volume of applications, four more centres were added. However, students from several districts will still have to travel for around seven to eight hours to write the examination," noted a medical education officer.
Recalling that the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) conducted the CET for medical seats in over 400 centers every year for the convenience of students, he believes the CBSE should have tied up with the Karnataka Examination Authority to organise NEET in the students' interests
Meanwhile, several students complained they were not given an opportunity to change their examination centers after the addition of more cities. "When the primary notification was issued there was no examination centre near Davanagere. So I selected Bengaluru. But the second notification says NEET will be conducted in Hubballi too. However, I didn't get a chance to change my examination center," rued a student from Davangere, Shaila Koppal.
A NEET score card is mandatory for admission to all medical and dental colleges of the state this year. The test applies to seats in the management and Non- Resident Indian (NRI) quotas as well unlike last year when the Common Entrance Test ranking of the students was considered for government medical seats and government quota seats in private medical colleges. Only COMEDK medical and dental seats were filled up through NEET UG ranking.
