Students protest Bengal's inaction on NEET

Days ahead of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), a section of students on Thursday protested against the state government's failure to inform them about its the examination in the wake of NEET becoming mandatory for admission to undergraduate medical courses across the country.

A delegation of students, led by All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO), met the Director of Medical Education (DME) to clear the confusion over whether the state-level entrance exams would be held or not.

"The state government has not yet given us any answer and the exam is days away. Further, we have also demanded they appeal to the central government and move the Supreme Court," K. Hoque, an agitating student told IANS.

Holding that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) would isolate the students from the poor sections of society from taking up medical studies, Hoque said: "Appearing for the examination would require preparation along the lines of the CBSE which is not available in the schools accessed by the poor sections of society."

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to modify its April 28 order making NEET mandatory.

Holding that "Prima facie, we do not find any infirmity in the NEET regulation on the ground that it affects the rights of the states or the private institutions", a bench of Justice Anil R. Dave, Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said that they found "no merit" in the applications seeking modification of its April 28 order making NEET the only route for admission to medical colleges.

--IANS

sgh/bim/dg