‘Maha govt should make MH-CET scores valid for admission to pvt institutes’

After some medical aspirants fail to make the cut, parents will try to meet chief minister Devendra Fadnavis with plea

After the Directorate of Medical Research and Education (DMER) announced last week that students who have scored below 175-180 in the CET might not get seats in government-run medical and dental institutes, parents of medical aspirants are hoping to convince the state government to allow MH-CET scores for admission to private and deemed medical institutes.

The ordinance passed by the Centre has said that MH-CET scores will be applicable only for government-run institutes, while NEET scores will be considered for admission to private and deemed institutes. (HT photo)

“Directorate of Medical Research and Education (DMER) officials clearly told students that those who have scored below 175-180 in CET might not get seats in government institutes. These children have worked really hard for the CET exams over the past two years. It will be unfair to put them through another entrance exam now,” said Ruiee Kapoor, one of the parents.

A few days ago, a group of parents met up with state education minister Vinod Tawde and are waiting to meet chief minister Devendra Fadnavis soon. “Both of them had promised us that they will push for NEET to be deferred by a year, but that has not happened. We are ready to go to court if need be,” she Kapoor.

DMER announced the CET results on June 1 and the top three ranks were bagged by city students, the highest being a perfect 200 out of 200. Many classes highlighted how they noticed a large number of students scoring more than 190 in the test this year.

“At least 10% of my class has scored above 190 this time, which is brilliant. We are all just hoping that the Centre doesn’t change its stand about the validity of CET. Students have worked really hard and hopefully, will get through the best government-run institutes,” said Avinash Mishra, director, Clear Concepts Pvt Limited, a city-based coaching institute.

With only 20 government-run medical and dental institutes in the state, barely 2,810 seats are available for admissions through CET scores. For the remaining 3,395 seats, students will have to appear for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) on July 24.

Some parents feel another test is just going to add to the students’ stress. “My son has scored 178 out of 200 which is very good. But this year, it looks like it will not help him secure a seat in state-run institutes. We are creating bigger hurdles for our children despite knowing how stressful these entrance tests can be for them,” said Arun Kumar, parent of another medical aspirant.

With the final word on compulsion of NEET coming from President Pranab Mukherjee in the form of an ordinance, parents are now worried if their struggle will bear fruit. While parents across the state are still wondering about their next move, a group of parents from Pune have decided to go to the high court once again with their grievance. “We will go to any extent to ensure our children don’t suffer. We are planning our next move so as to yield positive results,” said a parent from Pune.