UG medical registrations dip by 9K as experts attribute to delay in commencement of admission
Pre-admission registrations for undergraduate health science courses including MBBS and BDS have witnessed a drop by a few thousand applications this year
MUMBAI Pre-admission registrations for undergraduate health science courses including MBBS and BDS have witnessed a drop by a few thousand applications this year. Figures shared by the state common entrance test (CET) cell – the admission authority – revealed that only 55,674 candidates completed the process by uploading the necessary documents and paying fees by January 5 which was the deadline. This is nearly 9,000 applications lower than the 64,645 candidates who completed the registration process in the previous academic year.
In a bid to encourage more registrations, the CET cell on Thursday decided to extend the registration process by another five days till January 10. As per the new schedule, the first provisional merit list will now be released on January 13.
“We have received queries from many students who could not complete the process either because they made errors while filling the online form or are still awaiting appropriate documents to attach with their form. In order to give such students more time to complete registrations, we have decided to extend the deadline,” said a senior official from the state CET cell. He added that the admission authority hopes that this extra time will be enough to encourage thousands more to complete the process.
In 2019, 59,000 students registered for undergraduate medical courses, vying for 5,000 seats. This year, there are nearly 6,800 UG medical seats across government and private medical colleges in the state. While CET officials hope to attract thousands more for admissions over the next four days, experts have blamed the dip in registrations on the delay in commencement of the admission process which left not a single admission of UG or PG medical students in 2021 altogether.
“Not only was the overall admission process delayed but simple registration for students and announcement of the state merit list was delayed in Maharashtra by four months. In the meantime, several students opted for admissions in neighbouring states where the process began in November itself,” said Sudha Shenoy, parent and activist. She added that in some cases, especially students with lower National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) scores, admissions were taken in other courses including engineering and pharmacy to avoid further delay.
NEET-UG exams were conducted in September this year and the results were announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on November 1, after weeks of delay due to a Bombay high court stay. The Supreme Court is currently hearing a series of petitions filed by students questioning the validity of the implementation of EWS and OBC quota in all India quota (AIQ) seats, therefore continuing a stay on admissions to AIQ seats.
The Maharashtra CET cell started pre-admission registrations only on December 30 while states like Kerala, Punjab and Odisha started registrations in November.
“Several students have understood that the delay that they’ve faced this year is unprecedented and instead of waiting further, many have decided to appear for NEET exams again next year and apply for admissions. There are students who have sought admissions to BSc Computer Science courses and are planning to continue with those for the current academic year instead of wasting any more time on admissions and this is reflecting in registration figures,” said a senior official from the state Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) on condition of anonymity.
