‘Won’t give up on students’

In light of the Supreme Court ruling, making the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) mandatory for admissions to medical and dental colleges, state medical education minister Vinod Tawde has said that the government will not give up on the aspiring students.

Mr Tawde said that on his insistence Union medical education minister J.P. Nadda has convened a meeting of medical education ministers of all states that have conducted the Common Entrance Test in New Delhi on Monday, May 16. The education minister said that various options would be discussed and if required, the ministers would also meet the President of India to intervene in the matter.

While speaking about the current situation, Mr Tawde said that even though the review and modification petition filed by Maharashtra government was pending in the SC, he had spoken to Mr Nadda and convinced him to convene a meeting of medical education ministers from all states.

“Lakhs of students will be affected all over the country and also in Maharashtra due to NEET. In the meeting with Mr Nadda, we will discuss ways and means to resolve the situation and also find alternative means to prepare state board students for the NEET,” Mr Tawde said. He further added, “We will propose starting of regular one hour lectures that will be aired on Doordarshan and other channels free of cost for helping state board students prepare for NEET which is based on CBSE syllabus.”

The education minister also said that while televised lectures would be aired for six days, students would be able to get their queries answered from the lecturers on the seventh day. He said that this would ensure that students do not get exploited at private coaching classes.

Apart from the televised lectures, Mr Tawde said that the meeting would also dwell on alternative means of reaching out to the students and providing them study material through the online medium and a mobile application was also being prepared for the same.

“After the meeting on Monday we will also try to meet the President Pranab Mukherjee and seek his intervention in the matter in the interest of the students,” said Mr Tawde.