News

National Eligibility Entrance Test to go on floor

August 24th, 2012
Mumbai : Say goodbye to the seemingly unending medical entrance examinations. The state government has finally given the green light to conducting the national eligibility entrance test (NEET) - a one-nation-one-test proposal put forward by human resource development minister Kapil Sibal - for admission to undergraduate medical colleges. The NEET, which will go on the floor next year, will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) under the guidance of the Medical Council of India. Dr Pravin Shingare, head of the Maharashtra directorate of medical education and research (DMER), told the centre on Wednesday that the state is ready for NEET from 2013. So, students for all MBBS (4,960) and BDS (2,920) seats in government, corporation and private medical colleges as well as deemed universities in the state will be shortlisted through the NEET from the next year. With the approval of the NEET, the state has, therefore, shut its doors on the Maharashtra common entrance test for admission to medical courses . There will, however, be no change in seat distribution, reservations and the charge for admissions, which lies with the DMER. Dr Shingare, who attended a national-level meeting to discuss the NEET in Delhi on Wednesday, told DNA, “We have put up a proposal to conduct the NEET on the first Sunday of May so that the admission process can finish early. Other states have agreed to this. But the Centre is yet to take a final call.” Although finer details of the NEET, like the system of negative marking, are still being worked out, the planning for the conduct of the examination has begun. The CBSE has settled on six examination centres — Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik and Nagpur — in Maharashtra. “We have requested the government to allot more centres for students’ convenience,” said Dr Shingare. Applications will be made available online in December. Hall tickets will be uploaded on the DMER’s website next January. Seats for central government quota will be filled by June 2013 and rest of the admissions will be completed in July.