A day after the new Minister of Education, Dharmendra Pradhan, announced the dates for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test 2021, he tweeted that the national medical exam would be available in two extra languages—Malayalam and Punjabi. This takes the total tally of regional languages that one can take NEET UG in to 13.
It bears mentioning that the demand for the exam to be held in both languages has been a longstanding one, from students and academics in both states.
Pradhan said in his tweet, "The NEET(UG) 2021 will be for the first time conducted in 13 languages with new addition of Punjabi & Malayalam. The languages now being offered are Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Urdu and English."
Pradhan tweeted late on Tuesday about the addition of language options as well as the fact that, for the first time, an exam centre would be made available in Kuwait for students of Indian-origin to take the test, sans travel. He tweeted, "Registrations for the NEET(UG) 2021 has started from 5 pm today. For the first time in the history of NEET(UG) exam and in order to facilitate the Indian student community in the middle east, an examination centre has been opened in Kuwait."
It is an established fact that students of Indian-origin who have grown up in the UAE and other parts of the Middle East, often travel to India to take the entrance test—in a bid to land a medical seat here. Not only is medical education in India considered among the best, it is also shorter and less expensive when compared to courses in Europe and the west, while offering 'equitable quality'.
With the COVID pandemic mildly in abeyance, travel has opened up, but visa availability and flight schedules still remain erratic at best and so hundreds of parents have believed to have written to the Ministry of Education from the middle east, requesting the opening of a remote centre there.
Keeping true with his latent messaging Pradhan finished off the series of tweets by diligently crediting the developments to Prime Minister Modi and his vision for the country's education scene via the NEP.
NEET UG 2021 will be held on September 12. Registrations are expected to exceed 70 lakh this year, owing to the fact that students have received a de facto pass result.
