GUJCET 2016- update

Gujarat: Till the GUJCET 2016 gains a formal recognition, the medical admissions in the state will be based on NEET. This also means that the class XII results of state board will have no impact on the merit list. Also, students who have scored at least 50% in state board examinations will be considered eligible to sit in NEET.

The news after being confirmed by state heath department has put many medical aspirants in Gujarat in anxiety yet again. Till the final confirmation on recognition of GUJCET, conducted on May 10, for medical admissions, is confirmed by the Centre; NEET is the final word.

In addition the state health department officials have also confirmed the news that 85% of medical seats will be filled under the state quota- through the CBSE merit list shared with the state. The balance 15% will be the common merit list i.e. all-India quota.

Health minister Nitin Patel said that he, along with education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, has confirmed to TOI that they will go to Delhi and ask the Union government to intervene so that relying solely upon NEET is not made compulsory for this year. The Gujarat government would also move for NEET conducted in Gujarati.

He also implied that the state government also seeks Centre’s intervention to remove the 50% criteria for the state medical aspirants. Also, they will be asking the Centre to take into consideration that 85% state quota seats be filled through GUJCET 2016, which has been conducted in May.

According to a local newspaper, the answer keys for three subjects, physics, chemistry and biology papers was uploaded on www.gseb.org. Physics answers have reported errors. Two errors were spotted in physics answer key. Physics teacher at St Xavier's Loyola P Chavda said, "In physics, in booklet number 18, the answer to question number 30 was shown as optical interval. Being a physics teacher, I have never come across such a word. "Moreover, in Q No 11in the same booklet, the OHM X Second should be the correct answer, but they have shown it to be MHO X Second."

Another important notification is that the merit list prepared by the Admission Committee for Medical and Paramedical Courses (ACMPC) will now have no impact. The list was based on the class XII examination results, and also, GUJCET, in the ratio of 60% and 40%. In addition, pro-rate method will be applied by ACMPC to admit students for the state quota.

Also, there is a need to address the issue of admission for NRI students seats reserved in the state, which is 260 seats in different medical colleges.

"With NEET now made compulsory at the last minute, the NRI children will not be able to appear for the test. If it is mandated to give admission to NRIs only on basis of NRI score, many of them may not take admission in Gujarat and choose colleges in Russia, Philippines, China etc," said the dean of a leading medical college to TOI.

However, the issue lacks clarity at present.