Student group demands more exam centres for NEET in Maharashtra | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Student group demands more exam centres for NEET in Maharashtra

Hindustan Times | By, Mumbai
Mar 27, 2017 04:51 PM IST

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts the entrance test across the country, has announced that all the examination centres in the state will be located in six major cities.

A student organisation has demanded more examination centres for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in the state. 

The demand assumes significance as the number of students taking NEET is expected to rise manifold this year.(Pic for Representation)
The demand assumes significance as the number of students taking NEET is expected to rise manifold this year.(Pic for Representation)

In a letter to state medical education minister Girish Mahajan, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has asked for examination centres in each district of Maharashtra, to make it more convenient for students from small towns and villages to take the test. 

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The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts the entrance test across the country, has announced that all the examination centres in the state will be located in six major cities, namely Aurangabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune and Thane. The number of students who will be taking the test has not been released so far. 

"The students will have to bear economic and mental pain to appear for NEET. They will also lose more time. This will be detrimental to their progress," read the ABVP letter. 

The demand assumes significance as the number of students taking NEET is expected to rise manifold this year, after the state government's decision to conduct admissions to all the health science courses through the national-level test. Last year, the criterion for admission to these courses, with an exception of MBBS and BDS in private colleges, was the state-conducted common entrance test (CET), which was held in all the districts of the state. 

Around 97,000 aspirants had taken the CET for health science courses last year, with some students appearing exclusively for NEET. The state's directorate of medical education and research (DMER) estimates around 1.5 lakh students to take NEET this year. 

Pravin Shingare, director, DMER, said the concentration of the examination centres in select cities makes it easier to monitor the test. "NEET is a national-level test and there's a risk of paper leak and other malpractices if it's held at multiple places," he said.

Shingare pointed out that the number of examination centres for the national-level test has in fact increased over the years. In 2015, The state had only two cities as the examination centres for All India Pre-Medical Test, which preceded NEET. Last year, the CBSE had allotted four examination centres to Maharashtra. The number was increased to six after the state government intervened.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Musab Qazi is a Trainee Correspondent, covering education. He generally writes about higher education policies in Maharashtra and new trends in the education sector.

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