Education, Careers & Professional News
Med tests: Mumbai shows the way
Source
Times of India
Date
2005-05-18
Information
In a major victory for aspiring medical students and their parents, the Bombay high court has directed the state government to take over the admissions process to private medical colleges and to conduct it in a centralised manner.
Thanks to the de-centralised process, students had to travel to distant corners of the state to secure admission and had lost lakhs of rupees because they had to apply to several colleges at a time. Some colleges had refused to refund their money, making it impossible for poorer students to get admission.
The process was also time consuming and, parents alleged, left room for corruption, helping students who could pay more to get seats instead of the meritorious students.
Admissions to government colleges and to 50 per cent of the seats in private colleges are centralised.
On April 13, the Parents Association of Medical Students (PAMS), Maharashtra had filed a petition in the HC, asking that private colleges centralise their admissions.
If they could not, the petition said, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) should conduct the admissions.
On Thursday, the court pointed out irregularities in last years de-centralised admissions and noted that it was unfair for students to have to travel 400 km from Mumbai to Kolhapur and to lose money in admissions.
The HC judgment quoted reports from colleges and experts, who insisted on centralised admissions if hardships are to be avoided to the aspiring students and indirectly to their parents.
Since the Association of Managements of Unaided Private Medical Colleges (AMUPMDC) refused to conduct centralised admissions, the court directed the DMER to include one member of the AMUPMDC on its panel and then conduct counselling for admissions.
If the AMUPMDC refused to co-operate, DMER was free to fix the timetable for repayment of fees.
The AMUPMDC is to reimburse the DMER for expenses it incurs in conducting admissions.
The state government already conducts a Common Entrance Test (CET) and centralised admissions for 3,629 seats in government colleges and 50 per cent of the 6,957 seats in private colleges.
Now, it will conduct admissions for the remaining 50 per cent too — 3,478 seats.
There will be three rounds of admissions in all and will be completed by September 30. Students will have to pay only Rs 1,000 to cancel their admission to go to a better college.