The notice about NEET not accepted by MCI initially but later have ask to implement
from next year on ground of students would need some time to switch over to the
new system.
The last of the Maharashtra Health and Technology - Common
Entrance Test (MHT-CET), the combined entrance test for engineering, pharmacy and
health sciences degree courses in the state, will be held on May 10. The state director
of medical education and research (DMER) has issued a notification declaring that
the MHT-CET 2012 will be held on May 10. A detailed programme, including
the schedule for submission of pleas, will be announced soon, stated the notification
issued on January 16.
The DMER is the competent authority for the entrance test. The announcement comes
against the back drop of the pro-longed debate, which prevailed for last six months,
over the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), which the Medical Council
of India (MCI) initially proposed to conduct from academic year (AY) 2012-13 in
a bid to have a single entrance test for medical degree courses across the country.
Maharashtra, along with Assam, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, had opposed
introduction of NEET from 2012-13 on the ground that students would require some
more time to switch over to the new system and get fully acquainted with the syllabus
prescribed by the MCI.
On December 19th, 2011, the MCI told the Bombay high court that it would not implement
the NEET from AY 2012-13, but would do so from the following AY 2013-14. The court
was then hearing a bunch of petitions filed by the state government, the Association
of Medical Colleges and some students. Speaking to TOI on 17th Tuesday, officiating
DMER, Praveen Shingare said, We (the state government) have given our commitment
to the Central government that we will be part of the NEET from 2013-14. In a letter
to Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had
also said “that the NEET be introduced from 2013-14”.
Effectively, the MHT-CET will have to go forever from next year. The combined entrance
test, which annually draws over 3 lakh professional course aspirants from the state
and outside Maharashtra, was introduced from AY 2004-05, following the Supreme Courts
landmark verdict of August 2003, regarding fees and admissions to professional courses.
It’s not just the engineering, pharmacy and health sciences courses, but the MHT-CET
score is also considered for admissions to the veterinary science sciences course
(B.V. Sc and AH).
The enrolment for MHT-CET in 2011, had gone up by 6.10%, from 2.85 lakh students
in 2010 to 3.02 lakh students in 2011.While the test is conducted by the DMER, the
centralised seat-allotment process, after the results, is conducted independently
by the DMER for the health sciences seats and by the director of technical education
(DTE) for the engineering and pharmacy seats. The state has close to 325 engineering
colleges, which collectively account for over 1.21 lakh seats. Similarly, there
are more than 300 health sciences institutions including those offering medical,
dental, homeopathy, ayurveda, unani and siddha studies while the pharmacy colleges
are numbered around 150.
Courtesy: Times of India
Related Article
