NEET: Mard wants PM Narendra Modi to intervene

The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (Mard) has petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance) issue and ask the CBSE board to prepare question papers based on the state board syllabus of different states that would uniformly benefit students all over the country.

In light of the Supreme Court’s decision that made the scores of the NEET mandatory for admission to medical and dental colleges across the country, thus disallowing states to conduct admissions based on the scores of the Common Entrance Tests (CET) conducted by them, students studying state board syllabus have been left in the lurch as the NEET is based on CBSE board syllabus. As students in the state that already conducted CET are expected to appear for the phase II of the NEET to be held on July 24, the Mard has decided to come to the rescue of the aspirants.

“Mard has registered an official grievance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for common basic syllabus based only on 12th standard syllabus,” said Dr Sagar Mundada, president of Central Mard.

He justified Mard’s stand saying, “NEET is based on CBSE syllabus, which is much different and tougher than respective state syllabus. Also, the portion for the exam is being based on 11th and 12th standard, both which has not been the case in respective state CET exams. Hence we have requested the PM to consider the future of around 6 lakh students and future doctors of the country and immediately set up a committee to form the Basic Common Syllabus (topics which are common to all state boards) and include topics of class 12 syllabus only.”

Apart from petitioning the PM, Mard has also started an online petition on Thursday to push for its demands. According to Dr Mundada, the petition received nearly 100 signatories in the first hour itself and included existing doctors and parents.