While the Supreme Court hearing for the postponement of the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test - Master of Dental Surgery (NEET - MDS) is scheduled on March 15, another set of concerns has risen among the aspirants. With less than a week left for the dental entrance exam for PG admissions, candidates are worried about the logistics of appearing for the exam on March 18.
On the one hand, candidates are worried about travelling long distances to appear for the exam and on the other hand, candidates who registered after the extension of the internship cut-off complain about the non-availability of exam cities.
“I applied on March 9 after the registration date was extended with regards to the internship cut-off. While registering, I could only choose the state of Andhra Pradesh and the city centre displayed only one option ‘Available Test City’,” said Swathi Ch, fearing she would have to travel to another state for the exam. Swathi is from the 2018 batch and pursued her internship at GITAM Dental College and Hospital, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
It is further reported that those candidates who applied after March 8 faced the same problem of not being able to choose the test city. Another candidate from Rajasthan, Hasti Makhecha said, “I was made eligible 10 days before the exam and since centres in my state were not listed, I had opted for Gujarat. How can I travel to faraway exam centres if admit cards will be issued 48 hours before the exam?”
Speaking to EdexLive, one among the petitioners who filed a petition for postponement of the exam, Rishab Chakraborty, said, “If we consider everyone who has filled the form after the ineligibility extension from March 9 to 11, more than 1,000 students can see only the Available Test City option and no exact location.”
More centres in metro cities!
Another candidate from Bengaluru, on the condition of anonymity, complained that he had to select Mysuru as centres in Bengaluru were not available when he was applying.
“It is very sad to see Bengaluru, a metropolitan city having fewer centres,” the student regretted. Further, he complains that he won’t be able to travel to the allotted test centre on such short notice of two days due to high railway or air ticket charges. “Additionally, it is vacation and wedding season, it will be difficult to find tickets to even travel long distances,” he alleged.
In this edition, centres have been reduced to 56 from 76 in 2023. Rishab notes, “Out of the 28 states and eight union territories (UTs), there are no exam centres in four states: Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur and Sikkim and six UTs excluding Delhi/NCR and Jammu & Kashmir.”
Issue admit cards at the earliest
There is another section of students urging the NBE to issue the admit cards beforehand as against the actual issue date of March 15. Speaking to EdexLive, a dentist, who is appearing for NEET-MDS for the second time, Dr Ibad Khan from Bengaluru, Karnataka said, “We need to undergo a lot of preparation and planning as to how to reach the exam centre, what to wear as we have a dress code and where to stay if we are allotted far away exam centres. How can we do all these in two days?”
Ibad recalls that admit cards were issued eight to ten days before the exam in the year 2023. “Although I am not looking for postponement of the exam, I urge the board to issue the admit cards beforehand or increase the number of centres in the city,” urged Ibad, who chose Rajahmundry City in Andhra Pradesh as his exam city during the filling the form due to the non-availability of seats in Bengaluru. He is worried that he will have to close his clinic for more than three days as he has to travel a day before the exam to a far-flung centre.
Overall, the candidates were apprehensive about spending more amount on appearing for the exam than its exam fee. The transportation, accommodation and food charges could be burdensome for the aspirants. Students also vehemently questions the security of candidates, especially females.
