Mumbai: Lack of clarity on admission worries medical aspirants

Students and parents form a human chain at Marine Drive in May to protest against the implementation of NEET for medical aspirants. File pic

The Common Entrance Test (CET) for medical admissions stands cancelled with no clear process yet in place. While students have demanded clarity well in advance this year, parents too have been rallying to pressure the government.

Admissions for medical and other health science courses were full of confusion this academic year. While the National Entrance and Eligibility Test (NEET) has been declared as the single entrance test, there is no clarity on the admission process of private and deemed colleges.

Process pain
Sushma Shetty, a parent from Andheri, told mid-day, "The state has cancelled its test, and yet, private and deemed colleges have still not declared a clear process of admissions. Furthermore, there remains confusion over the reservation policies, such as seats for domicile candidates and management quota, what the process will be under each category." Several parents have scheduled a meeting at Marine Drive on Saturday to decide the next course of action.

"Parents need answers to all these questions to avoid last-minute chaos. The Saturday meeting will have parents from this year who have gone through the chaotic process and those whose wards are going to appear for it for the next year. We plan to demand an appropriately devised admission procedure from the government to avoid confusion," said Ruhi Kapoor, a parent on the organising committee.

Stress test
While those appearing for the medical entrance test next year are already struggling with preparations, the worry about lack of clarity on the admission process has been adding to the students' stress.

"Admission to other health science courses were delayed a lot this academic year as medical admissions continued for longer due to the chaos. They must declare a process of admission to non-medical courses ahead of time. So far, the only thing that's clear is that there's just going to be NEET. We need to know how admissions will be done for different courses and in different colleges," said Girish Kulkarni, a parent from Kandivli.

A student preparing for NEET, Rajani Kamdar, said, "We had been preparing for both exams until now; at least it is finally clear that there is only going to be NEET. But we want the admission process to be declared ahead of time to avoid a repeat of last year." Dr Praveen Shingare, director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, was unavailable for comment.