AURANGABAD: Advocacy groups and social organisations on Tuesday stepped up their protests to press for demands to conduct the National Eligibility cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG 2017 in Urdu language.
The protesters also included students, who staged a demonstration in front of the office of the Aurangabad divisional commissionerate. They protested the exclusion of Urdu as one of the mediums for the national-level exam.
Advocacy groups and social organisations part of Tuesday's protest submitted a memorandum to Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, J P Nadda in support of their demand.
Mohsin Ahmed, president of the non-profit group - Janjagran Samiti - said, "The government has not given any serious thought the earlier memorandums submitted and so, we have taken to the streets to voice our demands. Urdu is the vernacular of the Muslim community across the country and it should be considered as a medium for NEET."
In December 2016, the Union health ministry had announced that the NEET-UG will be conducted in eight languages from the 2017-18 academic year. These include - Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu and Tamil.
"NEET and its implementation in regional languages is the outcome of the government's commitment to bring about transparency in medical education and to remove malpractices," an official statement issued had said.
Questioning the rationale behind not considering Urdu while introducing the reform, protesters said the decision would affect a large number of Muslim students.
"Maharashtra alone has over 160 junior colleges, where around 12,000 students undertake 10+2 level education in Urdu medium. Had Urdu been the medium for NEET, these students could benefit immensely," Ahmed said.
"We will file our petition in the apex court soon as the necessary groundwork is almost over. If the government continues to ignore our demands, we are left with no option but to knock the doors of the judiciary," a protesting student said.
The protesters also included students, who staged a demonstration in front of the office of the Aurangabad divisional commissionerate. They protested the exclusion of Urdu as one of the mediums for the national-level exam.
Advocacy groups and social organisations part of Tuesday's protest submitted a memorandum to Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, J P Nadda in support of their demand.
Mohsin Ahmed, president of the non-profit group - Janjagran Samiti - said, "The government has not given any serious thought the earlier memorandums submitted and so, we have taken to the streets to voice our demands. Urdu is the vernacular of the Muslim community across the country and it should be considered as a medium for NEET."
In December 2016, the Union health ministry had announced that the NEET-UG will be conducted in eight languages from the 2017-18 academic year. These include - Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu and Tamil.
"NEET and its implementation in regional languages is the outcome of the government's commitment to bring about transparency in medical education and to remove malpractices," an official statement issued had said.
Questioning the rationale behind not considering Urdu while introducing the reform, protesters said the decision would affect a large number of Muslim students.
"Maharashtra alone has over 160 junior colleges, where around 12,000 students undertake 10+2 level education in Urdu medium. Had Urdu been the medium for NEET, these students could benefit immensely," Ahmed said.
"We will file our petition in the apex court soon as the necessary groundwork is almost over. If the government continues to ignore our demands, we are left with no option but to knock the doors of the judiciary," a protesting student said.
