Srinagar, Feb 1: Around 6000 students, including from J&K State, who have pursued studies from Urdu medium schools have been rendered ineligible to appear in the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET-2013) to be held on May 5, 2013.
 Earlier when the test was not nationalized, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, Maharashtra, was conducting the medical entrance test in Urdu medium as well, besides in other languages.
 Since now the NEET (UG), 2013, would be conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Delhi, for admission to MBBS/BDS Courses in India, it was decided to draft the question paper only in two widely accepted languages, English and Hindi. But later, in response to the petitions from various organizations to Medical Council of India, the MCI agreed to set question paper in other vernacular languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, and Gujarati. Again, two more regional languages- Assamese and Marathi -were added to the list. But curiously, Urdu was omitted.
 It has now put at stake the future of more than 6000 aspiring medicos. The MCI agreed to include Marathi language, even when there is not a single Marathi Medium Science Jr. college in Maharashtra. Instead, there are 168 Urdu Medium Science Jr. colleges and more than 6000 students are appearing for class XII (Science) Examination with Urdu medium.
 Taking note of the predicament of these students, J&K Congress chief Prof. Saifudin Soz has written to Union Human Resources Development Minister Palam Raju and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
 Soz requested both the ministers to find ways to allow students from Urdu medium to appear in the test to pursue medical degrees.
 Prof. Soz asked the ministers to ensure equal opportunities for Urdu medium students and deserving aspirants for greater uniformity and convenient for all candidates across the country. “Moreover, it is directly related to thousands of students’ academic careers,” Soz said, asking the ministers to ensure necessary arrangements are made for inclusion of Urdu language in NEET-2013.
 Prof. Soz has asked the ministers for this concession just for three years and thereafter it will be notified for future that nobody will be allowed to appear in the said examination with Urdu medium.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 1 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 1 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 2 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST