'Medical Education & Regulation Have Become A Business; Entire Haste To Fill Up Seats' : Supreme Court Questions NEET-SS 2021 Exam Changes

The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Central Government and the National Board of Examinations observing that the changes in the National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test- Super Specialty(NEET-SS) 2021 pattern were seemingly done to ensure that the seats in the private medical colleges were not lying vacant.The Supreme Court repeated its earlier observations that the changes have put the students, who have been preparing for years, to prejudice."You announce the changes in August for the exam in November. And when the students come to the court, you change the exams to January. This does not augur well for the medical education in the country", Justice DY Chandrachud, the presiding judge, told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, who was appearing for the Union Government.The bench noted that as per the revised pattern, 100% questions for the super specialty entrance will come from the feeder category of general medicine. However, as per the pattern prevailing from 2018-2020, 60% of the questions were from the super specialty course which the student opted and 40% questions were from the feeder categories."For 12 super specialties, 100% questions are from general medicines. The entire examination is going to be only be on general medicine. The logic seems to be, general medicine is the largest pool, and tap them to fill the seats. That seems to be idea. And see the prejudice caused to the studies.Previously they got 40% questions from the feeder courses but now they would get 100% questions from General Medicine", Justice Chandrachud said.The bench, also comprising Justices Vikram Nath and BV Nagarathna, observed that they were getting the impression that this has been done only with the intention of ensuring the filling up of vacancies. "Seats are vacant are never in government colleges. It's always in Private.We have a surmise, that the seats in govt colleges are not lying vacant. It is a reasonable surmise. It appears that the entire haste is for filling the vacant seats", Justice Chandrachud said."The interest of students is far higher than that of the institutions. Of course, private institutions have made investments. But we have to balance. Students are going to be the torchbearers of the future", the judge added.At one point, Justice Chandrachud even went to the extent of saying that the bench is getting the impression that medical education and medical regulation has become a business. "The impression we get is, the medical education has become a business, medical regulation has also become a business.That's the tragedy of medical education in this country", Justice Chandrachud said."Earlier, a candidate who had studied anesthesia would also have got some questions from it. Now all questions are from general medicine. What this does is privileging students who have done general medicine at the cost of all other feeder specialties?", the judge asked.When the NBE's counsel replied that this has been done on the basis of advice of experts, Justice Chandrachud remarked, "Experts are also subject to Article 14"."The fact that the seats remain vacant- whose concern is that? That is the concern of management and private colleges. Should that be at the cost of students?", Justice Chandrachud further asked."What was the hurry. You have an examination pattern which had been going on from 2018 to 2020. Yes, you are an expert body, we agree..but have some concern for the students", the judge commented during the hearing, which lasted for nearly 2 hours.The bench urged the Union and the National Board of Examinations to consider forcing the changes from next year only, after making adequate arrangements. "We will still give you time to put your house in order. We will hear it tomorrow. But if you are showing obduracy, the arms of the law are strong", Justice Chandrachud told ASG Bhati and Senior Advocate Maninder Singh(who appeared for the NBE).As the hearing was about to end, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, submitted that NBE does not want to give an impression that this has been done to fill the seats."If the court is under the impression that all this has been done to fill up vacant seats, I request the Govt to dispel the impression and to have this implemented from this year. The Board does not want to give the impression", Singh submitted.The ASG submitted that the changes are not made only to fill up seats but keeping in mind the larger public interest. She said that the changes brought "comparative ease" to the students, and caused no prejudice to them, as they are going to be tested not on the super specialty subjects they are going to study.The hearing will continue tomorrow.Petitioners' argumentsA bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice BV Nagarathna was hearing a group of writ petitions filed by PG doctors challenging the changes in syllabus and pattern made for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Super Specialty(NEET-SS) 2021. The petitioners...

'Medical Education & Regulation Have Become A Business; Entire Haste To Fill Up Seats' : Supreme Court Questions NEET-SS 2021 Exam Changes

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