With some States flagging up concerns over holding the single National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical and dental colleges, the Centre is likely to bring an Ordinance to bypass the Supreme Court’s ruling making the common examination mandatory.
After holding a meeting with State Health Ministers on NEET on Monday, Union Health Minister JP Nadda said the future course of action will be thought of “soon” as the Centre was committed to bringing in transparency in the medical education system and remove alleged malpractices.
Health Ministers and representatives of 18 States and Union Territories attended the meeting.
“Most States are in favour of NEET in principle. However, some States have expressed that there are some logistical issues that are impeding its implementation, and therefore they have sought some more time,” said Nadda.
He said private medical colleges across the country cannot have their own entrance exams and will have to take students through NEET.
“We are in favour of implementation of NEET. The consultations are being held and we are trying to address the issues of States. There are mainly three concerns of the States. First, all States have a different syllabus and therefore a common syllabus needs to be formed so that students can prepare accordingly.
Second, the exams should also be conducted in regional languages wherever required and lastly the ongoing exams of the States needs to be looked at,” he said adding that we have to solve all the problems of the States before NEET is conducted across the country.
He said his Ministry will apprise the SC of the State Governments’ apprehensions on NEET only after arriving at a conclusion.
At the meeting, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain came out in full support of the SC’s order and requested the Centre to implement it at the earliest to bring in reform.
The SC had ruled that starting this academic session, students would have to appear for NEET to seek admission to medical or dental colleges in the country.
The apex court order had implied that all Government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET and those examinations which had already taken place or were slated to be conducted separately stand scrapped.
Several MPs have demanded that the Government bring forth an Ordinance to stall NEET for the current academic session.
Separately, while talking to reporters, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley referred to protests by many States over the SC’s NEET decision and asserted that the manner of holding the examination across the country is essentially an Executive matter as it is in policy domain.
“We now have a Supreme Court judgment. We will have to see how we deal with that particular issue,” Jaitley told reporters. Several States want NEET to be implemented only from the 2017-18 academic session.
Jaitley, however, said the judiciary and Executive are “on the same page” over maintaining the fairness and integrity of exams at all costs.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the NEET issue, amid concerns raised by parents and students. “I have assured parents that I will meet PM Modi on the NEET issue. We are trying our best to resolve the issue,” he told reporters in Mumbai.