KEA’s post on NEET worries medical seat aspirants

NEET for medical entrance in 2013 will put PU students at a disadvantage

A recent post on the website of the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has put the pre-university students who want to pursue medicine in 2013-14 and their parents in a dilemma.

According to the post “NEET 2013” on the website, the process of online submission of applications for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to MBBS course for 2013 will start on December 1, 2012. The test will be held on May 12, 2013.

Some parents and students who spoke to

The Hindu on Sunday said the test would be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) according to its syllabus for Class 12 while the pre-university science students in the final year now are being taught as per the State syllabus. A few parents who came together discussed the issue at in informal meeting here on Sunday.

Umesh Bhat and Sham Prasad, parents, said the CBSE syllabus and State syllabus were different. It would be tough for students who followed the State syllabus to answer Physics, Chemistry, and Biology papers set on the basis of the CBSE syllabus. Stating that the science students in first year pre-university now following the CBSE syllabus, Mr. Bhat said it would be proper to introduce the NEET for them in 2014.

Difference

S.S. Bosco, a veteran Mathematics teacher, said there were huge differences in the Biology subject taught under these two syllabi. He said students who took the CBSE syllabus solved more advanced problems in Physics and Chemistry.

“The CBSE syllabus has depth. It would be difficult to cope up with it and prepare for the NEET along with preparing for the final year pre-university examinations,” said Shama B, a final year Science student.

The website said that the KEA would take up the capacity building of students for making them fully prepared to write the NEET 2013. It would start from October 16 and telecast through Doordarshan’s Chandana channel from 9.15 p.m. and 10 p.m. till May 2013.

It said that a separate NEET Cell was being constituted in KEA which would interact directly with the students. From January 2013, Mock NEET would be conducted by KEA both offline and online. Mr. Bosco, who has authored a number of textbooks for PUC, said: “Is science a cinema to understand it through a television channel?”

The parents are expecting the State Government to clarify if the students would be taking CET or the NEET in 2013 for medical admissions.