NEET jitters for Bengali medium students as number drops drastically this academic session

The number of Bengali medium students securing MBBS seats at various state-run medical colleges has dropped drastically with the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) finding hardly one in this academic session.

This is because the standard of question papers for Bengali medium students that were set in NEET examination were much more difficult than that of English or Hindi mediums, as it was evident in the probe carried out by the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) Board which has been conducting both medical and engineering entrance examinations in the state for years.

Apprehending the situation, the state government had repeatedly written to the Centre urging it to find out a way so that the Bengali medium students can be adjudged on equal grounds.

But the Centre has not bothered to take a step in this regard as a result of which many meritorious students from the state will be denied admission to the undergraduate medical studies only because they had opted for Bengali as the medium of examination.

It has been learnt that in case of CMCH, there are 132 unreserved MBBS seats. Out of this in the unreserved category, nearly 100 students from Bengali medium get admission at the CMCH every year but this year, none of the

Bengali medium candidates could make it to the prestigious medical college. Most of the students who will get a chance to study medical here in this college are from CBSE or ICSE boards or have studied in other states with their domicile in Bengal.

Many have raised questions regarding the role of the Central government who paid no heed to the pleas of the state government.

They have also pointed out that anybody can make a difference between the students on the basis of the language they are opting as medium of examination.

Ever since the NEET examination had been held on May 7, students appearing for the examination in Bengali alleged that the standard of their question paper was harder than their English and Bengali counterparts.

This had led to the agitation by these students following which the state Health department had asked the state joint entrance board to carry out a probe. After a thorough investigation, the WBJEE Board submitted a report to the Health department stating that the allegation was true and the standard of Bengali medium question paper was much difficult than English and Hindi ones.

The NEET is the national level medical entrance examination formally introduced in the country from this year. It was the WBJEE Board that had been conducting the medical entrance examination along with that of the engineering for past few decades.

Dr A K Maity, Director of Dr Maity Education and Medical Research Institute in Kolkata, said: "If the

NEET is continued, no student will take interest in pursuing science stream in Bengali medium. This may lead to the extinction of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. Students interested in higher studies will prefer to study in English medium schools."

When asked if the state Health department is going to take any step in this regard, Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr Debasish

Bhattacharya said: "We wrote to the Centre drawing its attention to the difference in the standard of question papers but nothing was done from their end. We hardly have an option here."