NEET-UG schedule out: Exam on September 12, registration starts from Tuesday

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for undergraduate medical aspirants (NEET-UG) will be conducted across the country on September 12

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for undergraduate medical aspirants (NEET-UG) will be conducted across the country on September 12. The Union health minister made the announcement on Monday, days after the National Testing Agency (NTA) declared dates for Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) Mains and Advanced for engineering aspirants.

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“NEET-UG 2021 will be held on 12th September, 2021 across the country following Covid-19 protocols. The application process will begin from 5pm on July 13 through the NTA website,” education minister Dharmendra Pradhan posted on Twitter.

The announcement has calmed lakhs of medical aspirants who were clueless about the entrance exam for some months now. “With no exam dates in place, we were getting frustrated because we’ve been preparing for this test for couple of years. We are glad the exam date has been announced and registrations will begin soon,” said Navjyot Ahuja, an MBBS aspirant.

Recently, the National Medical Commission (NMC) released a circular stating rescheduling of dates for examinations for the current and next academic years. While a previous circular had mentioned that exams for the 2021-22 batch will take place in August 2022, the latest circular stated that these exams will be rescheduled, hinting at a delayed examination season due to the delay in the start of the current academic year.

“The schedule announced earlier on the website is not applicable anymore. Rescheduled dates will be announced soon,” stated the latest circular. Approval for new institutes as well as courses for 2022-23 has also been delayed, said NMC.

Even with exam dates announced, students and parents are still worried that this delay in conducting exams will lead to delay in admissions as well. “This year, admission is likely to follow last year’s schedule and cut-off dates. Year after year admissions are eating into the academic calendar and this is a worrying trend,” said Brijesh Sutaria, parent of a medical student.

Admissions to most professional courses was delayed by a few months in 2020 due to Covid restrictions and admissions to UG medical and dental colleges went on till January and February 2021, respectively. Students as well as institutes have shared concerns about this delay leading to a shorter academic year, which leaves students at a loss. While NEET-UG dates were delayed due to delay in Class 12 results, NEET-PG (postgraduate) aspirants are still waiting for their exam dates after it was postponed due to rising Covid cases in the second wave of the pandemic.

Students still have queries and doubts about the admission process, which they hope will be cleared by NTA soon. “If the exam is held in September and results are out by October, medical institutes will end up conducting admissions till the end of this year. We hope NTA as well as state admissions authority share the admissions schedule soon as well,” said Anindita Chakraborty, another NEET-UG aspirant.