City doctors, coaching centres welcome National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test

The last minute decision to introduce the national eligibility cum entrance exam for admission into MBBS might have received bitter response from students taking up the exam this year. But, doctors and coaching institutes in the city look at it as a positive measure, provided the test factors in the multiple school boards of education and economical strata.

The introduction of NEET, will open gateways for students from CBSE and other boards to get admission into medical colleges of Tamil Nadu. While it will, on one hand, stiffen the competition for state board students, it will help students from other boards to get admission in Tamil Nadu's colleges under the merit category. With the earlier system, where admission into engineering and medical colleges was based on Class 12 scores, state board students were at an advantage as they were able to score better than their CBSE counterparts due to a relatively easier syllabus. Besides, the state board used a more liberal scoring process.

Experts say that NEET might be the beginning to do away with the rote learning system followed in state board schools. "Most students in the state board syllabus neglect class 11 lessons, and concentrate on Class 12 lessons for 13-15 months. With the introduction of NEET, students are likely to be more serious about Class 11, as it lays the foundation for the entrance exams," said assistant director of Aakash Educational Services, Tamil Nadu, Jean Thomas John.

He feels that over a period of time, it would help to do away with the rote learning system in state board schools.

Members of the academia too feel that the introduction of NEET will help both students and the medical fraternity. "It will induce uniformity in medical education across the country. It will open doors for students across the nation, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level," said a professor of a private medical college.

Director of Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Oncology and Research, P Guhan thinks that if there is a uniform syllabus followed in schools across the nation, implementation of NEET is feasible. "We have multiple boards of school education. If the Central Government implements a common school education board across the nation, then NEET will be a fair mode of admission," said the oncologist.

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