Constantly changing State policies, delayed state orders — including some that were later withdrawn — after the admissions process started, frequent court interventions, a litigious parenting community, the new centralised administrative processes: all of these made up a perfect storm of circumstances that resulted in arguably the worst medical school admissions process ever. The State government’s attempts to control even the admission process in private and ‘deemed’ universities made things worse. (A deemed university is an institution of higher education that is not a university, but works at a very high standard in a specific area of study.)
“Four major decisions introduced for the first time this year created unforeseen situations,” said Dr. Pravin Shringare, director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, the body that conducts medical admissions in Maharashtra. “We ourselves within the system were quite clueless as new decisions kept getting imposed on us. And it was a huge task to ensure justice within those constraints for the over four lakh students seeking admission. We just had to pull it off.”
This year, for the first time, there was an online, centralised admissions process for medical college seats. According to Dr. Shringare, who has been overseeing medical admissions in the State for over 20 years, this year medical admissions saw four major decisions taking their toll on the medical admission process. “Firstly, the confusion started with the introduction of compulsory National Eligibility-cum-Enrollment Test [NEET] exams by the Supreme Court for all medical seats across the State. This was a major blow to Maharashtra students, as they had given the State centralised entrance exams.” They had just two months to prepare for the NEET exams, he said. “Secondly, the State was entrusted with admissions to private, unaided colleges this year. Third, this was followed by the order that the all-India quota seats — which are generally surrendered to state — would also be filled in on the basis of NEET national scores. The fourth, far-reaching, decision was to let the State conduct the admissions to all deemed universities. Parents and students ended up bearing the brunt of these constantly changing policies. Had these changes taken place one by one, probably the system could have absorbed it better, but these changes came in quick succession and baffled even those of us, who were within the system.” He says that he did arrange meetings with parents to give them an idea of how things would pan out, but things got out of hand at a later stage. “The SC order to fill the seats from the all-India government seats quota by October 7 was received by us after 5 p.m. on October 6. We had no option but to put it on our website and complete admissions the very next day.”
In a note, the Medical Council of India (MCI) said it would monitor if admissions were done on merit, and asked private colleges to submit to it the details of students who had been granted admission. The MCI clearly said that no further admissions should be taken after October 7.
The medical admission process in Maharashtra had already dragged on for more than five months. Even while medical and dental college seats continue to lie vacant, students are resigning themselves to losing an academic year and preparing for next year’s admission cycle.
DMER authorities say that they did approach the Supreme Court to get the admission date extended but failed; the SC allowed an extension only for dental and deemed college seats of Maharashtra.
“Eight medical seats from the Maharashtra quota got wasted and could not be filled up,” an official on special duty from the DMER informed the crowd gathered at Mumbai for spot admissions. An official involved in the admissions process, speaking anonymously, said, “Six seats have lapsed in the medical category and about 12 seats have lapsed in the dental category as they could not be filled up before the deadline of September 30. At the dental admissions that we conducted on October 7, we expect about six students to be unable to procure their original documents, as the private colleges where they had taken admission earlier are asking them to furnish tuition fees of five years.”
Rajesh Krishnan, a Mumbai parent, said, “Most of the students who got admission in the spot-admission process on October 7 for all-India seats are the same students who had taken admission in private colleges but are now taking admission here. Their seats will go vacant in private colleges, thus adding to the number of vacant seats again. Wrong government policies and procedures are creating havoc with the lives of students as many students miss their entire terms despite availability of seats.”
Why do students who have secured seats in private colleges want to shift to government-run institutions? This happens because there is a large disparity between fees charged by different category of institutions. A government college charges around Rs. 60,000 per year as tuition fees, with free food and accommodation thrown in. In a privately-owned medical college, annual fees could be anywhere between four and eight lakh rupees, and in deemed universities, fees could go as high as nine to 16 lakh.
For many students, this year’s admission process has been a cruel merry-go-round, going from college to college across that State. “I got information when I was in a train to my hometown,” said Mohammed Anwar Khan, a parent from Chandrapur. “I left the train, got back to Nagpur city, and then myself and my son took a flight to Mumbai to catch up with the process here.” But despite visiting colleges in Jalna, Amravati, Nasik, Islampur, Pune, and now Mumbai, his son has yet to get a seat and is now preparing for the admission process next year.
So, what does it mean for the admission process next year?
“Why should a student appearing for Class XII exams know in advance about which courses is she eligible for?” asks Dr. Subodh Sirur, a parent who also happens to be a doctor. “She should be informed six months in advance so that she can prepare her documents and herself well in advance.” Dr. Sirur says that the government policies for the next academic year should be announced this year itself. Sudha Shenoy, another parent, says, “The government should streamline the centralised admission process. All parties should be clear about who gets how many seats to fill. What is the use of having a common all-India entrance exam if the government is not prepared to handle it?”
With this year being a write-off for many, can students and their parents hope for a hassle-free process next year? Most of the court decisions made this year are valid just for this academic term, and issues like domicile are yet to be decided. “The matter on domicile stands admitted in court,” says Advocate General Rohit Deo. “The matter concerning autonomy of deemed universities is being heard right now. Technically, all issues stand admitted in court.”
On other words, what seems likely is that the next academic year will see another round of court interventions and confusing last-minute government decisions. And a lot of frustrated and discouraged aspiring medical students.
Systemic ills
The drama played out over five months, with changing and contradictory State notifications, multiple court orders. The end-result was that medical college admissions ended on October 7, and several seats remain vacant. It’s not just seats wasted: many young dreams are shattered and future careers are, at best, on hold for a year. Who is to blame? There are many candidates.
* It starts with the Chief Minister’s office. While the Supreme Court and High Court judges decided the fate of lakhs of medical students, state government watched from the side-lines. The seeming lack of political will resulted in every issue being dragged to court. Every decision of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) was met with petitions in court from conflicting lobbies and parents, and State intervention. A strong political leader could have just got the conflicting parties around the table and tried to resolve issues rather than let the uncertainty continue. “When we parents went to meet the chief minister, he just told us that the courts will decide the course of action,” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent of a student. “His intervention could have made a big difference, but he refused to get in.”
* The government did not take the basic decisions it needed to take before the admissions process started. These include which examinations were to be considered for admission and what percentage of seats would be allotted to various quotas (management, State quota, all-India, domicile, etc.) Instead, court orders decided most of these issue. Dr Subodh Sirur, a parent who is doctor and who has also studied law, said, “Government decisions on admissions and eligibility should be taken way in advance, so that enough time is given for the aggrieved to approach and seek relief from court. The courts should also have enough time to decide on the issue, and then the courts could say, ‘Now, we shall not entertain any more interventions on this issue.’ Government clarity on the issues leaves less scope for litigation.”
* The lack of information from the government only made matters worse. No one had an idea what the government wanted to do or even what it was doing. The only source of information were online notifications, most of which were posted on the DMER website after 8 p.m. on crucial days. The state’s first merit list was posted at 11 p.m., which predictable stress for aspirants and their families. Many students had to spend money on air tickets, or take overnight trains to catch up with the process; many, unable to make it to their chosen colleges in time, lost out altogether.
* In this atmosphere of uncertainty, students added to the confusion by moving from deemed to private to government seats. The names of the best students featured in almost all the merit lists, everywhere, and did not get deleted from the system once they secured college seats. The result: more cancellations and more running around across the state for students.
* Private and deemed medical colleges are run by powerful lobbies with strong commercial and political interests; indeed many are owned by political leaders themselves. Mere government notifications were hardly likely to rein them in. The government must come up with strong measures if it is serious about regulating the admission process to these colleges.
* The age-old ‘capitation’ fees —admissions in return for donations — are the elephant in the room. Parents allege that even clerks in private colleges were asking for huge donations, as much as Rs 60 lakh, in return for instant admission. Parents allege that the saw brokers roaming around campuses making similar promises, Some private colleges invited students for ‘counselling’, instructing them to leave their mobile and bags outside the rooms theses sessions were held in. A government crackdown on this rampant corruption in the medical admission process is long overdue.
The writer is a freelance journalist
