HYDERABAD: There will be no more EAMCET for would-be medical students. From next year onwards, students seeking admission to medical colleges in the state will have to appear for a common national-level test to be held by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). A similar examination for post-graduate courses will be introduced from 2013.
When the notice for the National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test for undergraduates (NEET-UG) is issued by the Union Health Ministry in about 10 days, EAMCET will cease to exist, health minister D L Ravindra Reddy announced on Thursday.
The move kicked off a debate on its implications for rural students and the syllabus candidates would have to prepare for. According to sources, the state government was opposed to the Medical Council of India's (MCI's) proposal to have one national-level common test because of the difficulties it would have overcome in implementing reservations for local and non-local quota and for the state's underprivileged classes.
Apart from Andhra Pradesh, the move attracted opposition from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But the Supreme Court gave the MCI the go-ahead in July and states will have to fall in line.
"We have to honour the Supreme Court's decision or it would amount to contempt of court. All states that were opposed to the national-level test will have to say yes now," Ravindra Reddy said.
To get round the reservation problem, MCI had told the apex court that along with a national-level merit list, it would release a state-wise merit list so that states can admit students according to their reservation policy. But state governments are worried about certain other issues as well.
The minister said mathematics is expected to be a subject in the national test but most medical college aspirants here do not have to study it. He wanted the Union ministry to examine the issue. "I am yet to hear from the ministry. I do not know what their response is," Ravindra Reddy said.
Moreover, officials say the test would be conducted in Hindi and English and not in any other language. Tamil Nadu has strongly opposed this and demanded that states be allowed to conduct the test in their local languages. Thousands of students studying in Telugu-medium schools are in a fix with this move as they would find it hard to write in Hindi or English.
On this issue, other states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal too are demanding that the test be conducted in their local language.
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