The state government on Friday clarified that despite the Supreme Court order making the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) mandatory, the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) will be held as scheduled without any changes.
Education Minister Vinod Tawde also said the state will be filing a review petition in the apex court in support of the MH-CET. In its judgement, the Supreme Court asked for the NEET to be conducted from this year for all the medical education courses.
As per the verdict, the NEET’s first stage will be conducted on May 1 while the next will be on July 24. “There has been uncertainty among the students and parents over MH-CET, but I would like to appeal to them to not get confused and appear for the exam as scheduled on May 5,” said Mr Tawde.
According to the minister, the state will be raising the issue of NEET being dependent on CBSE course in its review petition. “The state CET will be based on the curriculum of the SSC and HSC boards as well, which will help the students from rural areas to opt for medical studies. The NEET is largely based on the CBSE course, which is not being followed by a majority of rural students in the state. It will be an injustice to them if NEET is made mandatory suddenly,” he said.
Tawde added that it was the division bench of the apex court which had scrapped NEET in 2013 and MH-CET was initiated as a result. “Cancelling the CET at this point of time would jeopardise the future of students from Maharashtra,” he added.
State govt will
be raising the issue of NEET being dependent on
CBSE course
