Maharashtra: Parents admit to confusion over admissions and syllabus

Mumbai: The Central Board of Secondary Education's(CBSC), statement on the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2017 while clarifying many doubts in the minds of medical aspirants and their parents continues to remain ambiguous about admission rules for deemed universities in the state, and the NEET 2017 syllabus .

Parents of aspiring medical entrants are planning to meet officials of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) to gain an insight into the admission process and its syllabus.

"In the last many years medical admissions had never given any weight age to class 12 marks, but recently the Supreme Court requested all higher education courses to consider that score as well as entrance exam scores. We are not sure if the rule is applicable this year," said one of the parents.

The DMER in a statement released earlier this month had said that admissions to all government run and private institutions (excluding -15% All India Quota), will be conducted by the DMER. However, there was no mention about the status of Deemed Universities.

"We don't want to wait till the last minute for clarity. So hopefully the state government will release another statement soon," said a parent.

The DMER Director in a clarification to the HT said that the matter of admissions to deemed universities was still sub judice, as it was pending in the Supreme Court.

"Once we get a go ahead from SC, we will release a statement on that as well. As for weight age to class 12 marks, medical admission have given no weight age to class 12 marks since 1999, and we will continue the same rule in 2017. As for 2018, we can decide later," said Dr Pravin Shingare, Director, DMER.

Parents have complained about syllabus problems, including an unclear stand by CBSE on the portion applicable for NEET 2017. "The website says that the portion will include questions from CBSE as well as a common state board syllabus, but there is no such thing as a common state board syllabus. Each state has a different syllabus," said Sudha Shenoy, a parent. The parents of aspirants are hoping for a word from the CBSE for better clarity soon in the near future.