NEET hassles

The hassles students in Assam faced to appear for the pre-medical tiol Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) on Sunday, is clouding a fundamental issue. Given the trouble the CBSE had to undergo in cancelling the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) last year and holding it afresh in four weeks, a stringent dress code for students this year was only to be expected. The mass cheating last year with the keys to over a hundred questions released on WhatsApp had shown clearly that if the CBSE does not pull up its socks, ‘Munbhai’s with hi-tech gizmos will hijack the test. Thus it was that students taking the pre-medical test in Assam this year had to take off full-sleeve shirts and shoes, get long dresses cut, large buttons torn off and jewelry surrendered at the exam centres. Complaints have been made that such stringent guidelines were not communicated to the students properly, but that will cut no ice with the authorities. The real issue, however, is whether Assam and other states will be able to conduct their own medical entrance examitions. Dibrugarh University, which conducts the pre-medical test in Assam, has been instructed by the State government not to go ahead with the test scheduled on May 15 — while the implications of the Supreme Court directive to hold a tionwide common entrance are studied. Meanwhile, the apex court constitutiol bench has specified that whether states will be allowed to hold their own pre-medical tests is a matter between the Centre and the states and will depend on how Article 254 of the Constitution is interpreted. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear a batch of petitions seeking that NEET may not be thrust upon the states. Many state governments are therefore keeping their fingers crossed.