Maharashtra to knock on President's door over NEET imbroglio

Maharashtra minister Vinod Tawde today said the state government will seek the President's intervention after the Supreme Court made National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) compulsory for admission to medical and dental colleges.
The Union Health Minister J P Nadda had convened a meeting of the Medical Education Ministers of all states which conducted their own Common Entrance Tests in New Delhi on May 16, Tawde said here.
"After the meeting, if needed we will meet the President seeking his intervention," the state Medical Education minister said.
Review and modification petition filed by Maharashtra is currently pending in the Supreme Court. The state's objection to NEET is that it is based on CBSE syllabus, while majority of students in Maharashtra are from state-board schools/colleges.

"Lakhs of students will be affected all over the country and also in Maharashtra...In the meeting with Nadda we will discuss the ways to deal with the situation and also find the means to prepare the state board students for NEET," he said.
"We will be proposing broadcast of one-hour lectures on Doordarshan and other TV channels for helping state-board students prepare for NEET," Tawde said.
While televised lectures could be aired for six days of a week, students will get their questions answered by the lecturers on the seventh day. This would ensure that students don't get exploited by private coaching classes, he said.

The ministers, in the May 16 meeting, would also dwell on others ways of providing study material/coaching to students through internet, and a mobile application was also being prepared for the same, he said.