Admission to medical and dental courses across the country will be done through a single common entrance test from next year with Parliament today approving two significant bills for putting NEET in place.
The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016 were passed by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote. The Lok Sabha has already passed it.
The bills seek to amend the Indian Medical Council Act,1956 and the Dentists Act,1948 to replace the ordinances that were promulgated in May to keep state boards out of the ambit of National Eligibility Entrance Examination, NEET for admission in MBBS and BDS courses for this year only.
The Bills provide for conduct of uniform entrance examination for admission to all medical educational institutions at the undergraduate and post-graduate courses from next year.
The examination will be conducted in Hindi, English and some other languages.
Replying to a debate on the bill, Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said, under the new system, examination to private colleges will also be conducted through NEET.
He said, the new system is designed to curb corruption by bringing in transparency, checking multiplicity of exams and stop exploitation of students in counselling.
Mr Nadda said the undergraduate examination will be held on the basis of the syllabus of NCERT by CBSE and post-graduation by the National Board of Examination.
He said the Health Ministry has sought details of languages opted by students during examination in the last three years so that the Centre can make plans accordingly.
Not satisfied with the Minister’s reply the AIADMK members staged a walkout.