The notification issued by CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) on January 31, put an upper age limit of 25 years of age for aspirants who can take NEET 2017. Ever since the notification was released, there were widespread protests and demonstrations held against the decision across the country. Putting an upper age limit of 25 years will mean a lesser number of applicants applying for the exam, while on the other hand it will eliminate those who have crossed the age and are preparing for a year to take the exam.
Aspirants in the age group of 17 to 25 are qualified to take NEET 2017. Students, after finishing their board examination mostly appear for medical entrance examination like NEET, making their average age somewhere between 18-20. But, there are aspirants, who even after repetitive attempts couldn’t succeed in cracking the test.
Talking to PaGaLGuY, Tarun Sharma, a NEET aspirant, mentioned about the kind of difficulties with which aspirants prepare themselves for the entrance examination. “Aspirants from lower income background and rural areas do not get facilities and better education which are available for aspirants belonging to rich families in big cities and towns. Many deserving candidates miss their chance of getting admission in a government medical college by a whisker. Getting into private medical colleges will never be possible for these economically weak candidates,” pointed out Sharma.
Not only aspirants who have taken repetitive attempts will suffer, but those who plan to shift stream will also face the brunt of this decision to regulate the upper age limit for state quota seats. “Many aspirants abide by the wishes of their parents and end up studying something they don’t feel passionate about. Such aspirants, who have interest for medicine and want to pursue it later in life as a career option, will be devastated with setting of an upper age limit,” said an aspirant who didn’t wish to be named.
Talking about the psychology of the aspirants preparing for the NEET, Dr Ananda Rai said that this will affect the morale of aspirants. “It becomes a challenge for those who have attempted a competitive exam like NEET multiple times, to crack it. Getting into the medical field is what they desire for the most. Forcefully preventing them from taking the preferred choice of career of these candidates by means of a regulation is outright wrong,” pointed out Rai.