A circular dated July 13 was released by the National Medical Commission (NMC) on the deferring of the controversial the National Exit Test (NExT) examination. Students stormed social media and protests were held by the members of the medical fraternity on the sudden imposition of the exam and with no clear demarcation of details and other such information regarding the procedure.
What fuelled the already simmering fire was the levying of fees on attempting mock tests, for which, they charged a sum of Rs 2,000 from the students, only people with benchmark disabilities were exempted from the regulation.
The move was heavily criticised by the aspirants and senior doctors. Many stated that the NMC was acting like a ‘coaching institute’ rather than a governing body. Others mentioned the added pressure on the pockets of students as charging for a mock examination seemed redundant.
Even after the examination was deferred, there was no notification regarding the refund of the fees that students have already paid while registering for the test. RTI activist Dr Vivek Pandey mentioned in a tweet, “Maximum students paid NExT mock test fees. As health ministry already asked NMC to waive the registration fees. It’s a request to @MoHFW_INDIA @NMC_IND @aiims_newdelhi to return exam fees to students. @mansukhmandaviya.”
A Twitter user, Harnoor Kaur Randhawa tweeted on July 8, “@NMC_IND So, is the NExT mock test cancelled and if yes, will the students be getting their refund of the registration fee?”
Another Twitter user named Sourav Das tweeted, “It's already 18th July, still no clarification regarding cancellation of Mock Test from @aiims_newdelhi Also no refund of mock test fees inspite of deferred NExT for 2019 Batch by @NMC_IND Mock test draft and registration link can be issued day after webinar but can't cancel asap.”
But soon their doubts about the refund of the mock test was resolved with people assuring that the students will soon receive the complete refund of the money. Dr Yogender Malik who is currently a Member Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the National Medical Commission (NMC) tweeted, “Dear Students #NExT Mock will be cancelled and fee refunded.”
Reactions started pouring in, Dr Shubham Anand tweeted, “Next Mock exam is getting cancelled and money will be refunded. I wished they would have kept the exam free and conducted it so that everyone could now about the pattern and difficulty level of #NEXT whenever it comes into force”
Many students have been jointly resisting NMC’s decision to impose NExT with no clear vision, Taranpreet Singh Dhillon on Twitter says, “Great news coming from NMC Mock test is cancelled and fees will be refunded This is the result of unity”
The official notification regarding this is awaited. It is likely that NMC will release the notification today about the refund of the fees. Regarding the NExT examination, there is no clear mandate till now, but it is expected that it will be soon implemented starting from 2024 onwards.
