Medical admission suspended as CMC Vellore could not follow own processes

A Christian Medical College official has said that NEET gives only the scores and it is clearly not enough to judge a candidateUpdated: Sep 06, 2017 17:21 IST

KV Lakshmana 

CMC officials feel that the government order tthat says colleges will have to admit students solely on the basis of NEET scores has undermined the institution’s reputation

Chennai Officials of the Vellore-based Christian Medical College (CMC) said on Wednesday that they took the decision to suspend admissions for its MBBS and super specialities courses for the next academic session as they could not follow their own admission process after being asked to admit students based solely on NEET scores. Admissions to medical and dental colleges are done on the basis of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET.

A senior CMC official told the Hindustan Times that the government order that says colleges will have to admit students solely on the basis of NEET scores has undermined the institution’s reputation.

“We have not objected to NEET at all. It is a qualifying examination as far as CMC is concerned. But we conduct a series of tests and interviews of candidates to check if they possess all the qualities we are looking for people in the medical profession,” the official said.

He said the NEET gives only the scores and it is clearly not enough to judge a candidate.

“We need to check their leadership skills, if they were team players, have the commitment to serve the society, among other things. Which is why it takes three days to complete the tests and interview process,” he added.

A private, minority-run educational and research institute, the CMC follows a three-day admission process to shortlist students under which they conduct a test to check their aptitude and commitment to serve in rural areas.

Only 15% of the seats in undergraduate medical courses are available for general candidates, the rest are reserved for people from the minority Christian community. The students have to serve for two years in the hospitals run by Christian missionaries.

Article 30(1) guarantees minorities, both religious and linguistic, the right “to establish and administer educational institutions” of their choice.

“Since our admission process gets completed by July, a decision was taken to suspend admissions for the current academic year,” he added.

However, admissions to postgraduate courses were completed under CMC’s internal admission procedure..