State Education Minister Vinod Tawde said on Tuesday that while the Maharashtra Common Entrance Examination (MH-CET) will apply for government medical college admissions this year, those applying to private colleges need to take the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET).
Speaking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, Mr. Tawde said the NEET ordinance signed by President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday is a welcome relief for students seeking admission to government medical colleges. He, however, clarified that NEET stays for admissions to private medical colleges. In Maharashtra, there are 2,810 seats in government medical colleges, 1,720 seats in private colleges and 1,675 seats in deemed universities.
“There was confusion in the minds of students in Maharashtra regarding the seats that private colleges have surrendered to the government. However, such a situation does not arise here as private colleges have not surrendered seats. This is more relevant to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where 50 and 40 per cent seats respectively have been surrendered to the government.”
Mr. Tawde also said the state government will be filing a caveat in the Supreme Court so that it can be party to any petition filed by NGOs challenging the ordinance. He also said the government will hold meetings with the education think-tank and consider the possibility of making changes to the State Board courses or exams, as NEET is based on the CBSE syllabus.
“We are for NEET, but not from this year. From next year we will prepare our students for NEET. As our honourable Supreme Court feels there should be no corruption in middle-level education, we will implement NEET from next year,” he said. Mr. Tawde added that private medical college seats are going for as much as Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore and NEET would stop this corrupt practice.
Colleges in state haven’t surrendered seats to the govt unlike ones in Andhra, Karnataka
Vinod TawdeEducation Minister
