‘Review NEET bar for open school students’
Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com
The health ministry has asked Medical Council of India (MCI) to reconsider its decision to bar students of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) from appearing for NEET this year.
This has given a flicker of hope to thousands of medical aspirants, writing their Class XII through the NIOS board, who were to appear for NEET.
The ministry in its letter dated February 1 contended that CBSE had granted recognition to NIOS and considered it equivalent to other recognized boards. It also observed that excluding NIOS qualification for NEET would be unreasonable and unjust as around 1,500-2,000 students from NIOS board wrote the test every year.
MCI had in November last year barred open school students from appearing for NEET citing the absence of classroom training including practical examination in their curriculum. The health ministry had declared NIOS as a recognized qualification in the country after discussing the matter with CBSE and ministry of human resource development (MHRD).
On the other hand, the MCI said it had made it clear in its recommendations as to why NIOS was not equal to other boards. Asked on the letter from the ministry, vicepresident of Medical Council of India, Dr C V Bhirmanandham, said it was a collective decision of the executive committee. However, they would further discuss the issue before coming to a conclusion.
Meanwhile, trustee of SSVM institutions in Coimbatore, S Mohandoss, said such a sudden decision had caused irreparable damage to NIOS as students had lost interest in it now.
He disputed the contention that NIOS was not following the regular curriculum. Students who had enrolled this year through NIOS and were to write their exam should have been given a chance, he added. Meanwhile, parents of some NEET aspirants of NIOS board say they are planning to move the Supreme Court on the matter.
“It was a sudden decision from the MCI and not something it declared two years ago,” said M Muthuraman, father of Anju, a NEET aspirant from the NIOS board hailing from Coimbatore.
Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com
The health ministry has asked Medical Council of India (MCI) to reconsider its decision to bar students of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) from appearing for NEET this year.
This has given a flicker of hope to thousands of medical aspirants, writing their Class XII through the NIOS board, who were to appear for NEET.
The ministry in its letter dated February 1 contended that CBSE had granted recognition to NIOS and considered it equivalent to other recognized boards. It also observed that excluding NIOS qualification for NEET would be unreasonable and unjust as around 1,500-2,000 students from NIOS board wrote the test every year.
MCI had in November last year barred open school students from appearing for NEET citing the absence of classroom training including practical examination in their curriculum. The health ministry had declared NIOS as a recognized qualification in the country after discussing the matter with CBSE and ministry of human resource development (MHRD).
On the other hand, the MCI said it had made it clear in its recommendations as to why NIOS was not equal to other boards. Asked on the letter from the ministry, vicepresident of Medical Council of India, Dr C V Bhirmanandham, said it was a collective decision of the executive committee. However, they would further discuss the issue before coming to a conclusion.
Meanwhile, trustee of SSVM institutions in Coimbatore, S Mohandoss, said such a sudden decision had caused irreparable damage to NIOS as students had lost interest in it now.
He disputed the contention that NIOS was not following the regular curriculum. Students who had enrolled this year through NIOS and were to write their exam should have been given a chance, he added. Meanwhile, parents of some NEET aspirants of NIOS board say they are planning to move the Supreme Court on the matter.
“It was a sudden decision from the MCI and not something it declared two years ago,” said M Muthuraman, father of Anju, a NEET aspirant from the NIOS board hailing from Coimbatore.
No comments:
Post a Comment