The All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO) held a "victory rally" on the night of July 13 at NRS Medical College, Kolkata. The reason behind the rally is the deferment of the National Exit Test (NExT) by the National Medical Commission (NMC) till further notice.
"Victory Rally by #AIDSO at NRS Medical College, Kolkata/We congratulate all for the VICTORY against #NextExam/Join & strengthen us to Improve infrastructure & to fight against commercialization in medical education," the student body tweeted.
Previously, pointing out several loopholes, students across different medical colleges of the nation were up in arms against the introduction of the new exam, which seeks to conflate the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), the National Eligibility Entrance Test - Postgraduate (NEET PG) and final year MBBS exam. AIDSO had initiated a week-long protest over NExT and even submitted a memorandum against the exam to the NMC on July 7.
Commenting on the victory rally, the student body claims that the deferment of the exam came about after the students' protests. In a statement, AIDSO General Secretary Sourav Ghosh mentions, "It's a victory of the united students' movement and we congratulate all who took an active part in the movement. This again proves that if the students' community fights unitedly in the correct direction, they can force even the mighty rulers to retreat and demands can be achieved only by the movement."