The National Board of Examinations (NBE) has lowered the qualifying percentile for the MDS course by 7.5% because of the shortage of candidates at the State level.
The notification was issued on May 11. The Health Ministry said the decision was a ripple effect of the implementation of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for postgraduate medical courses in the academic session 2017-18. The NEET for postgraduate courses was conducted in 2016.
Empty seats
The NBE, tasked with conducting the examinations, said this was required because there weren’t enough eligible candidates to fill quotas in the States.
“This has been done to ensure more candidates are available for the MDS programme,” said NBE executive director Bipin Batra. The admission process would continue to be based on merit.
The revised percentile for NEET MDS 2017 is 42.5 for general category students, instead of 50; 32.5 instead of 40 for the SC/ST/OBC category; and 37.5 instead of 45 for the persons with locomotory disability of lower limbs.
Move to be challenged
Sankalp Trust, the Mumbai non-governmental organisation which petitioned the government to introduce NEET, has said it will challenge the decision to lower the qualifying percentile.
“This lowers the quality of the students going to medical colleges. One of the reasons there aren’t enough students is that fee structures have gone up. The purpose of introducing NEET was to have a common entrance test and an all-India ranking, so that colleges can pick from the best students. We will file a writ petition against this decision. We need a system of centralised counselling to ensure meritorious students get in,” said Sankalp Trust chairman Gulshan Garg.
According to the Health Ministry, 19,604 students appeared for the NEET post-graduate exam for dental courses last year. Of these, 10.636 qualified for the 6,058 MDS seats.
Seat to student ratio
“That is a seat to student ratio of 1:1.76. The government has decided that we need at least 1:2 ratio, where we have at least two students for each seat,” said Arun Singhal, Joint Secretary of the Health Ministry.
With the revision, 1,489 additional candidates shall be available to fill the dental seats.
The total number of candidates now qualified is 12,125, according to the NBE.
