With the side-effects of demonetization still being felt across the country, the application process of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is around the corner. Medical aspirants, who had a forgettable last year due to the SC order reinstating NEET, are hoping for a neater NEET this year. Imposition of NEET in a short time and the government resolutions that followed it made NEET 2016 a cake with too many flavours to digest. Although the order for uniform entrance examination in the medical field was just, the implementation was a total failure. The real drama last year begun when the two phases of NEET, replacing AIPMT, ended on July 24. Students and parents, who had no idea how a courtroom looks, became pros in understanding court proceedings. With one court order or the other coming their way, aspirants were on the verge of forgetting what they have learnt for entrance exams, mastering the laws of the Indian Constitution instead.
We at PaGaLGuY, have come up with a list of 5 things that the NEET aspirants will definitely not want to happen this year.
- Different dates for the exam: One thing candidates will definitely not want happening this year is the examination being held on two different dates. Last year, the examination took place on May 1 and July 24, giving an undue advantage to the ones who took it later. A bitter fight was out in the open on social media, claiming different difficulty levels of the exams conducted. NEET will be the only entrance examination this year and it is expected to be taken by a large number of aspirants. In such a scenario, CBSE can think of a multiple day exam schedule, without spacing the time too much.
- No loitering around the court compounds: MBBS aspirants must have never thought during their high school studies that they have to master law lessons as well, until last year. Waiting anxiously for the court orders to know about decisions taken in regard of admission policies and reservation stances by the courts have bothered the aspirants so much, that they must have thought of undergoing a crash course in a law school. In the new year, they surely will not want themselves to be busy with law lessons and instead focus on their preparation for NEET 2017.
- Run around for multiple counselling rounds: Some of the medical aspirants along with their parents must have lost a few kilos this year, thanks to all the running around they had to do for the multiple counselling rounds. Confusion as to who will conduct the counselling – state authorities, the central authority or the college administration – in medical colleges across the country, made the life of aspirants miserable. Aspirants this year must be looking for a uniform counselling procedure, so that their clothes fit them properly when the counselling session is finally over.
- Wastage of medical seats: Some 2,000 medical seats around the country were wasted, thanks to confusing counselling procedure last year. In a country where each year only 50,000 odd seats are offered to MBBS aspirants, it would be smart not to waste them with a proper planning on the part of the CBSE and MCI. Thanks to the combined effects of demonetization and NEET, there might be a steep fall in the number of medical seats being sold as donations in different colleges. Although post-demonetization, Shirdi Saibaba temple has got Rs 31.73 crore in donations, giving an impression that people can surely manage to buy medical seats, available anywhere between Rs 1 to 2 crore in some private colleges.
- Multiple NEET rank lists: Lists for state, a separate list for the centre, merit lists for private and deemed institutes, and the multiple lists for state domicile candidates! Sounds confusing, right! This is exactly what happened last year with the never ending lists coming up at regular intervals. A single merit list will be a proper solution this year, selecting deserving candidates in medical colleges across the country, irrespective of what states they belong to or which domicile rule applies to them.
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