KOCHI: Students and parents in Kerala found the Supreme Court’s verdict on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on Thursday hard to believe and are upset about it. Bright students said that they did well in the Kerala medical entrance examination on Wednesday and Thursday and expected good scores for admission into good colleges. In this backdrop, they are tense about facing yet another exam as per the SC verdict and fear it may cast a shadow on their aspiration to become a doctor.
“We did not expect this and are not sure about the future. This development has happened too late,” said Jilu Anna Mathew, a CBSE stream Class XII student in Kochi. Geetha Krishnakumar, a parent of another student Shikha Menon who appeared for the Kerala medical entrance exam, said that her daughter and her friends were disappointed about the development.
“They all did extremely well in the exam. If a student gets a rank of 700-800 in the Kerala exam, the same student can hope for 3,000-3,500 rank in the all India medical exam. Students, if they clear NEET, are not sure in which medical college they will get a seat. If they pass Kerala entrance, they are sure of getting admission in Kerala itself. Girls may not be in a able to go to other states. There is no clarity yet about the fate of AIIMS, JIPMER and AFMC entrances,” said Geetha.
With the decision of the Supreme Court, the entrance to be conducted by the private medical managements under the supervision of Justice James Committee also stands superseded along with other medical entrances for MBBS and BDS, some of which had already been conducted.
Students are now confused about the different difficulty level of NEET to be held on May 1 and July 24. Meanwhile, the Christian managements and MES welcomed the Supreme Court verdict.
Commissioner of Entrance Examination, B.S. Mavoji said that in any case the ranklist of the Kerala entrance will be applicable in the case of admission to allied medical courses including Veterinary, Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Homeo, forestry, fisheries and agriculture.
