The ambitious proposal to hold a Common Entrance Test (CET) for medical students from next year seems to have run into rough weather once again.
After refusal to hold a post-graduate exam for the students across the country, the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences sources say they have now told the
government that they want to be party to the under-graduate exam too. The matter has now been decided to be taken in the AIIMS governing body meeting of which health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is the chairman.
AIIMS sources say the institute is an autonomous body and under the act of Parliament they can conduct their own exam. According to one of the doctors in AIIMS, “AIIMS maintains higher standards and following CET syllabus would mean reducing their own level-which is uncalled for.” AIIMS has 77 UG seats.
The ministry officials, on the other hand, say when the exam is called “common” test for all, it should be for everybody. The ministry is trying to convince AIIMS for conducting exam PG exam for the country, which AIIMS denied earlier. “Both the matters will be taken up in the meeting. They have experience in conducting the exam that is why we approached them. But they expressed their inability in conducting it,” said a senior health ministry official.
AIIMS conducts PG entrance for 50 per cent of government seats on behalf of DGHS, which comes to around 4,000 seats. However, conducting it for the country, including the private colleges, would mean CET for 21,000 seats.
The Medical Council of India (MCI), which has already announced the exam to start from next year is, on the other hand, running out of time as various states like Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal have also expressed their objections on the common test. The MCI members also suspect that the moment CET is notified, many states would approach the court. “The states have issues concerning to negative marking, queries related to the reservation policy and seats for private colleges etc. There are language issues as well — the states want that the exam should be conducted in regional languages. We are looking into all these issue,” sources in MCI said. MCI is looking into the suggestions made by a committee set up by them which has recommended that there should be objective-type questions and a percentile score to determine the merit of all applicants in the proposed National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to MBBS courses from next year.
They have also suggested of not having negative marking.
“By now everything should have been finalised if we want to conduct the exam in April 2012. We will be only able to take a final decision after these issues are solved,” added one of the board members on condition of anonymity.