New Delhi/ Mumbai: Private medical colleges are likely to see a higher influx of students this year, according to experts, following a lack of clarity on the future of lakhs of students who had appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) examination.
“We get 40,000 students applying for 100 seats. Students apply for education loans and, this year, the outcome of the uproar regarding NEET and the higher-than-usual marks will lead to many more students heading towards private colleges for admissions,” said an executive at Christian Medical College, Vellore who did not wish to be named.
The number of students scoring higher-than-usual marks at NEET (UG) this year is more than earlier years, so even if a student scores marks that would have ensured a seat in a coveted government college such as CMC or AIIMS last year, they might have to queue up at private colleges this time. According to the National Testing Agency (NTA), the average score this year was 323.55 versus 279.41 last year.
Another factor that could see students making a beeline for private colleges is that the Supreme Court will hear various petitions regarding irregularities in this year’s exam only on 8 July, even as counselling sessions for successful candidates will start at various medical colleges on 6 July.
This may lead to confusion on final rankings of students and on whether they are eligible for government or private medical seats.
This year’s exams, conducted on 5 May, erupted in controversy on the back of allegations levelled at the authorities of unfair marks, paper leaks, and unusually high percentages of students getting top marks.
Around 2.4 million students appeared for the NEET (UG) exam, in an effort to bag one of the 108,940 seats available in private and government medical colleges in India.
The counselling imbroglio
In counselling sessions, students are allotted seats in medical colleges based on their all-India ranking (AIR).
“We do not know what will happen,” an official in the admission department in a top-ranked private medical college in Tamil Nadu said on condition of anonymity. “There are 250 seats in our college and we do not know if the rankings will get impacted by the SC’s verdict.”
The college charges ₹6 lakh per annum as tuition fee, and the official cited above pointed out that postgraduate students whose exams were cancelled are also in flux, awaiting the revised date.
There have been pleas in courts on rescheduling the counselling session date but so far, Justices Vikram Nath and S.V.N. Bhatti of a vacation bench in the apex court have declined to stay the process.
“Counselling is not a closed matter. It is a process. This process starts on the 6th… We want neither side to waste this time… They will learn which colleges are open… Not everything is accepted… We are allowing time to be utilized, not wasted, by either side,” Justice Bhatti remarked on 21 June.
The bench had earlier refused a stay on counselling as well. “They sought a stay of counselling, we refused. Ultimately, if you succeed, then everything will follow. If the exam holds, counselling will proceed as well,” the vacation bench had remarked in an earlier hearing on June 20.
What’s in store?
Lawyers have noted that there is no guidance from the government regarding the future of candidates who undergo counselling if the Supreme Court quashes the exam and orders a re-examination.
“Since neither a stay on counselling has been granted nor any indication of postponement has been given, two situations may arise: either the entire process will be recalled, or there will be guidance on how candidates who have undergone counselling will be treated,” said Gauhar Mirza, partner at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, who has petitioned the Delhi High Court on behalf of three students challenging grace marks given to some students who appeared for the exam.
The government later scrapped the grace marks given to 1,536 students who took the medical entrance test and a retest was conducted for them on 23 June. All cases filed in various courts will be heard by the SC now.
Counselling sessions for medical colleges are done over multiple rounds. While the cost of studying in a government-aided medical college can start from a few thousands a year to ₹1.2 lakh, private colleges are 6-25 times dearer—annual fees can range between ₹6 lakh and ₹25 lakh a year, say students and their parents.
This year, because of the higher than usual number of students getting scores above 650, the competition for seats at medical colleges is expected to be tougher.