Gujarat: Pro rata system gets opposition

Surat: The state witnessed a protest rally by parents of other board students against the government’s decision to allow pro rata based admissions to the Gujarat board students for NEET 2017-18 academic year. Calling it unfair and unilateral, parents of other board students submitted a memorandum to the district collector, asking for justice.

They contended that the Supreme Court ruling last year to implement NEET, as a single platform of admission, would be destroyed with the initiation of pro rata division. They said Gujarat was the only state in the country that has introduced the pro rata system, that to close to the approaching board exam.

Citing a a hypothetical situation to better understand the pro rata system, the parents cited an example of a 1080 seats in government medical colleges and said if 15 % were to be removed for the All India Quota, one was left with 918 seats. If pro rata division was to implement on these 918 seats, 872 would go the Gujarat board way and a mere 46 left for the CBSE and other board students of Gujarat .

"This is most unfair. All students studying in Gujarat state irrespective of board belong to Gujarat. Because of the pro-rata, the students of other boards in Gujarat state have lesser seats in the state and are only eligible for 15% seats at all India level. Effectively they belong neither to Gujarat nor to India, and are being treated as second rate citizens," a parent told the TOI.

The state government announced that the admissions in medical and dental colleges for the academic year 2017-18 will be given on pro-rata basis under NEET. The decision has been taken after parents made several representations to the government in this regard, Gujarat Health Minister Shankar Chaudhary said in a statement.

Read more at Medical Dialogues: Gujrat accepts NEET, Admissions on Pro-Rata Basis