Summary
Online petitioners say scheduled date of July 17 "too close" to other competitive exams, giving them limited time to prepare
NEET registration has crossed 18.72 lakh this year, with 10.64 lakh women and 8.07 lakh men applying, recording a jump of more than 2.5 lakh since 2021
Thousands of MBBS aspirants have demanded the postponement of medical entrance exam NEET, scheduled on July 17, saying it's 'too close' to other competitive exams, and hence, giving them limited time to prepare.#PostponeNEETUG' has been trending on micro blogging site Twitter and the aspirants have also started an online petition which has been signed by more than 24,000 students. In their petition, they said the counselling for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate)-UG 2021 ended only in March, while the 2022 edition is scheduled on July 17, thus giving them very little time. "How are we to revise such a vast syllabus in just three months? Moreover, other important exams like the Board exams, CUET, JEE Mains, are also scheduled around the same time. Imagine the trauma and pressure we students are having to go through with all these significant exams scheduled one after the other. Is this a fair decision?" the petition said. Last year's exam was initially scheduled for August 1 but was postponed to September 12 due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. "There's so much stress in the last days of the exams. I'm losing my hope. No one wants to hear, no one wants to help us, no one wants to understand us. We, the aspirants, are in great trouble. Please postpone the NEET-UG," said Sanjana Gupta, an aspirant. According to Anubha Srivastava, a lawyer and the president of the India Wide Parents' Association, NEET and the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) are happening at the same time causing inconvenience to students. "NEET must be held after JEE Mains so that students can prepare well. Anyways, the session is not going to begin before February 2023 for NEET aspirants as counselling will take time," she said. The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on June 22 that the debut edition of CUET-UG will be conducted from July 15 to August 10. "Dear @DG_NTA and @EduMinOfIndia please hear the plea of the students, and their small demand, it's not a unjustified want there are many reasons also NTA announced the CUET which directly clash with NEET exam," a Twitter user said. The number of registrations for medical entrance exam NEET has crossed 18.72 lakh this year -- 10.64 lakh women, 8.07 lakh men -- recording a significant jump of more than 2.5 lakh since 2021. Among the candidates registered this year, 771 are foreigners, 910 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and 647 Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders. The highest number of candidates have opted English as the medium of exam, followed by Hindi and Tamil. The NEET-UG is the qualifying entrance exam for admission to Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Surgery (BSMS), Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS), and Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) and BSc (H) Nursing courses.
Last updated on 24 Jun 2022
