The NEET Opposition Action Committee, comprising representatives from various political parties, has urged the Government to exempt the Union Territory from the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to MBBS and BDS courses.
In a memorandum to Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, the former MLA and secretary of the CPI R. Viswanathan said 400 out of 1,200 MBBS seats in seven private and one Government Medical College in the Union Territory was filled through the Centralised Admission Committee for several years. The selection was based on the marks students obtained in the higher secondary examination.
If NEET was implemented, there would be no CENTAC admission by the Puducherry Government from the academic year 2017-18 onwards. This snatched away the Government’s rights in MBBS seat admission in the name of adoption of minimum standard and coordination of standards for MBBS/BDS, he said.
The proposed NEET would cause hardship to students studying under the State board and SCERT syllabus since questions in NEET are asked from the CBSE syllabus. There was no common syllabus for plus two across India and it was not possible for students to shift to the CBSE syllabus.
Hence, until students from Puducherry were prepared to cope with the common eligibility syllabus, they should not be deprived of higher education in Government and private educational institutions, Mr. Viswanathan added.
The NEET Opposition Action Committee has called upon the Centre to exempt Puducherry from NEET. It should enact a law mandating Statewide single window system of admission for MBBS and BDS.
