Uniform medical entrance examination National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) will not be mandatory for students appearing for the exam in 2016. President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday signed the ordinance passed by the Cabinet, postponing the Supreme Court order, which made NEET compulsory. There were three objections against implementing NEET from 2016. They are – most of the aspirants had been preparing according to the old syllabus, many of them were from regional language boards and the time was too less to adapt to the new format.
The President had sought legal advice on the ordinance to keep state boards out of the ambit of uniform medical entrance examination, NEET, for 2016. The ordinance was aimed at “partially” overturning a Supreme Court verdict which said all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET. More than 15 states were opposed to NEET and had raised issues like different syllabus and languages during the recent state health ministers’ meeting.
