NEET 2017: Five doctors write to PM to point out linguistic shortcomings in exam

Five doctors from across the country have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to stop the implementation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for the academic session 2017-18.

The doctors who have sought the help of the Prime Minister include Dr Jahangir Alam from Chennai, Dr Shankhadip Mula from Mumbai, Dr Imtiaz Ali from New Delhi, Dr Amiya Kumar Maity from Kolkata and Dr Priyanka Maity, Ex-Medical Officer, MR Bangur Hospital, Kolkata.

Through their letter, the doctors have brought to the notice of the Prime Minister about the impending crisis in the states if NEET is implemented all over the country. The doctors pointed out various barriers – including the issues of multilingualism in implementing the NEET.

As per their letter, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will face difficulties in implementation of the NEET, as some regional languages were not included as a medium to write the examination in.

The CBSE will conduct the NEET Undergraduate 2017 examination in Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil, Oria and Kannada, for admission to undergraduate medical courses.

In their letter, the doctors noted that CBSE is not capable of conducting the NEET in 10 different languages and that the exclusion of Urdu in NEET UG 2017 will aggravate the situation.

They went on to explain that CBSE has no viable machinery to hold the NEET in so many languages. If CBSE conducts the exam, it would be a gross injustice to a section of medical aspirants.

Telengana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had urged the Centre to ensure that NEET UG 2017 is conducted in Urdu as well.

It may be pointed out that over 11,000 in Class XII students in Maharashtra study science subjects in Urdu medium. Urdu was enlisted in the Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution.

In the states of Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttarakhand, Urdu has been given official language status.

There is a large magnitude of Urdu medium students in India. As a result of the exclusion of the language in NEET exam, a large number of students wishing to write their answer papers in Urdu will be affected by the Centre's decision.

The Supreme Court, in 2016, had directed that all national level entrance examinations should be conducted in regional languages, in order to provide equal opportunity for all. In the VIII Schedule of the Indian Constitution, 22 regional languages are placed along with Hindi and equal importance needs to be given to improvement of all those regional languages.

The CBSE board had been conducting the All India Medical Entrance Test for 15 per cent seats since 1988, using CBSE syllabus and NCERT books published in Hindi and English.

However, the NEET UG 2017 will be conducted in 10 different languages and books in the market in the other eight languages are near impossible to find. Many states and union territories – including Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry – have already expressed their dissatisfaction with the NEET examination.