Limit on language options in common medical entrance test NEET

New Delhi: Students appearing for the common medical entrance test scheduled to start this Sunday would have to crack questions set in English and Hindi unlike the exam's 2013 edition when papers were also set in six other languages. CBSE sources said because of time constraints and the arrangements that have to be made, the board couldn't allow aspirants to opt for question papers in regional languages. In 2013, the first and the last time the board had conducted the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), candidates could choose question papers set in Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali and Assamese, apart from Hindi and English.

State governments had then demanded that the Medical Council of India (MCI), the regulator on health education, allow the test to be held in their regional languages. The MCI had accordingly taken up the matter with the CBSE. This time, the May 1 exam - or NEET-1 as the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) is being considered - and the NEET-2, the second phase of the common test scheduled for July 24, would be held in English and Hindi. Both will be pen-and-paper exams. The sources said the CBSE would seek online applications from May 21 to June 20 for the NEET-2. Students who were not appearing for the AIPMT but banking on other entrance tests conducted by about 10 state governments and exams conducted by individual institutions would have to apply afresh for the NEET-2. These parallel exams have become irrelevant after the apex court's decision on Thursday. Dr Hebri Subhaskrishna Ballal, former vice-chancellor of Manipal University in Karnataka and an MCI member, said the varsity has already started conducting its own online entrance test. "I have not read the judgment. I don't want to comment at this stage on what will happen to the students who have taken the test," Ballal said. He said questions in entrance tests conducted by state governments were always in the regional language and English and that students who had studied in state-run schools might not find the NEET comfortable. Karnataka conducted its common entrance in English and Kannada, he added. CBSE sources said this was not the first time the NEET was being held in phases. The first edition was held in phases because of Assembly elections in Karnataka that year.