Common entrance test for medical colleges ‘student friendly’

A day after the Supreme Court quashed the national eligibility-cum-entrance test (NEET), one of its architects strongly defended it on Friday.

A day after the Supreme Court quashed the national eligibility-cum-entrance test (NEET), one of its architects strongly defended it on Friday.

HT Image

“Our expert team which planned this move had student and parent convenience, and merit and policy regulation in mind,” then chairman of MCI Dr SK Sarin told HT.

The director of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in Delhi added, “A student needed to apply individually to at least 8-10 medical colleges and move from one state to another to appear for entrance examinations. At times, the dates would clash and the candidate had no choice but to opt out of one or two exams. For parents also it was a task to take leave from work and accompany the child to various colleges. A common entrance exam would have saved the trouble.”

The team also believed that merit should be the sole criterion for selecting a college.

A candidate should not be deprived of studying in a good private college just because he or she does not have the money. There should be equal opportunity for all, said Dr Sarin.

“For 60 years, we were monitoring medical colleges, their staff and infrastructure. What we realised was that we needed to observe the entry and exit to regulate quality. The national exam was a step towards checking the entry that we were able to implement. We had planned a check at the exit level also but we were not able to implement it,” said Dr Sarin.