No time to prepare, dates clashing with CUET: MBBS aspirants demand NEET postponement

NEW DELHI: Thousands of MBBS aspirants have demanded the postponement of the medical entrance exam NEET scheduled on July 17, saying it's "too close" to other competitive exams, giving them limited time to prepare. The hashtag #PostponeNEETUG has been trending on the microblogging site Twitter and the aspirants have also started an online petition which has been signed by over 24,000 students.

In their petition, they said the counselling of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate)-UG 2021 ended just in March, and the 2022 edition is scheduled on July 17. "How are we to revise such a vast syllabus in just 3 months? Moreover, other important exams like the Board Exams, CUCET, and JEE Mains are also scheduled around the same time. Imagine the trauma and pressure we students are having to go through with all these significant exams scheduled one after the other. Is this a fair decision?" the petition demanded.

The last year’s exam was initially scheduled for August 1 but was postponed to September 12 due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. "So much stress in the last days of exams. I'm losing my hope. No one wants to hear, no one wants to help us, no one wants to understand us. We, the aspirants, are in great trouble. Please postpone the NEET-UG," said Sanjana Gupta, an aspirant.

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According to Anubha Srivastava, a lawyer and the president of the India Wide Parents’ Association, NEET and Common University Entrance Test (CUET), are happening at the same time causing inconvenience to students. "NEET must be held after JEE MAINS so that students can prepare well. Already the session is not going to start before Feb 2023 for NEET Aspirants as the counselling will take time," she said. The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced Wednesday that the debut edition of CUET-UG will be conducted from July 15 to August 10.

"Dear @DG_NTA and @EduMinOfIndia please hear the plea of the students, and their small demand, it's not a unjustified wants there are many reasons also NTA announced the CUET which directly clash with NEET exam," a Twitter user said. The number of registrations for the medical entrance exam NEET has crossed 18.72 lakh this year -- 10.64 lakh women, 8.07 lakh men -- recording a significant jump of over 2.5 lakh since 2021.

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Among the candidates registered this year, 771 are foreigners, 910 Non-Resident Indians and 647 Overseas Citizen of India card holders. The highest number of candidates have opted English as the medium of exam, followed by Hindi and Tamil. The NEET-UG is the qualifying entrance exam for admission to Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Surgery (BSMS), Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS), and Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) and BSc (H) Nursing courses.