After Raj Thackeray, Nitesh Rane comments on the medical entrance test issue
Ever since the Supreme Court decided to make All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) as the first phase of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions in MBBS and BDS courses, students and parents have continuously been expressing their outrage over it. The students who appeared in the NEET phase-I on May 1, can re-appear in NEET phase-II on July 24, but the state entrance test (MHT-CET) was declared to be invalid. This has left students with no option apart for gearing up for another marathon after being exhausted preparing for the MHT-CET race for two years.
Many politicians have taken a stand on the issue, stating that SC's decision will destroy career of students studying in regional languages and state boards across the country. Many politicians from opposition have come down heavily for inept handling of the issue and strongly criticized education minister Vinod Tawade for it.
On Saturday, as many as 100 parents of students affected by the apex court's decision on NEET met with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at his Dadar residence. Thackeray has taken a stand on the issue and assured the parents of the students that he will meet with the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday and try to ease out the problem.
On Sunday, Congress MLA Nitesh Rane also took a similar stand on this issue and held a conference. “Many students have come and spoken to me, and it seems impossible to cover 105 chapters in 55 days for any student. If there are any student suicide cases, the education minister should be charged with Section 302,” Rane said.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Vinod Tawade has assured that there will be an option of virtual classrooms and classes on TV, not everyone has taken the news as any consolation. On this, Rane stated that the plan of virtually taking classes on TV and Youtube will work only for urban students, not work for students in entire Maharashtra. “If the government sets up more centres in each district, may be the students may have some hope. The urban students have coaching classes, which again should not charge a penny to students for the two months of training,” Rane said.
Issues NEET students face:
BOOKS: The NCERT textbooks are tough to find, therefore reducing the students' time to prepare for the exam for July 24.
LANGUAGE: Students who prepared for MHT-CET in their regional language, (MHT-CET was held in 7 languages) will now have to study in English, if they find a book in the rural area. For the NCERT textbooks to be published in regional language, they might have to wait longer.
TIME: Students have to cover a newer and larger syllabus in a time span of less than 60 days. According to many parents, students who will find the textbooks on time will get time to only prepare, not revise.
SYLLABUS: The NCERT books are based on CBSE syllabus (Std. 11th and 12th) while the MHT-CET textbooks were focused on state board portion of Std. 12th.
TECHNOLOGY: The government is planning to take virtual classes, and reach as many students as possible. There are still many villages lacking facilities as basic as electricity, so it remains to be seen how the rural students will manage to study virtually.