Nearly 30 per cent of candidates taking the medical entrance examination of EAMCET this year are not freshers, with thousands of them having completed their Intermediate five years ago.
Ideally, they would have completed their course this year had they cleared the test in their first attempt. This year the medical stream has received record number of applications, with the figure touching 1,03,683, of which 75,450 are fresh applications, while the remaining have cleared Intermediate before 2013.
EAMCET office revealed that as many as 20,671 students who completed Intermediate last year were trying their luck again. Similarly, 5,456 applicants completed Intermediate in 2011 and 921 in 2010. Nearly 1,200 candidates who finished their Intermediate course before 2010 have also applied.
Unethical motives
Though reappearing for medical entrance examination is quite common given the high competition for a few available seats, officials are puzzled about the ‘oldies’. They fear that such students generally apply with unethical intentions, and, therefore, their antecedents should be verified.
Officials are also verifying the centres they have applied from and the preference given for the examination centres.
The officials’ fears are not unfounded as illegal means were being resorted to by seniors to help fresh candidates in the exam three years ago for monetary gains.
In the 2010 examination, some ‘oldies’ had used gadgets to ‘leak’ paper, but they were caught a day before the examination much to the relief of the government.
“Given the sensitivity of EAMCET, even a small incident can damage the government’s image,” agrees an official associated with the test. Officials also recall the PG medical entrance exam scam was busted in Chandigarh last year in which students from the State were involved.
In fact, the accused also figured in the 2010 ‘leak’ episode in the State. “With a record number appearing for the test, we will take all measures to negate any attempts of malpractice,” says N.V. Ramana Rao, Convenor, EAMCET-2013.
Apart from Intermediate students, applicants from other boards are also taking the test. So far, 1,570 candidates from the CBSE stream, 135 from National Open School, 136 from RGUKT, 111 from ICSE, 237 from AP Open School and 833 students from various other boards in the country have applied.
