Arrogance of the Medical Council of India and “National Entrance Exams”
Recently, a clever attempt by the Medical Council of India to usurp constitutional authority from the state and centre came about in the form of a mandatory Entrance Exam for all medical admissions in the country. This was disguised as one introducing common bar of judgment and in would provide relief to students who are now required to appear for several entrance examinations by various private institutions and states. On the face of it there is nothing seemingly wrong with this proposal, but the devil is in the details. These exams will be conducted only on the basis of CBSE curriculum and will be in English and Hindi only.
This should stop everyone dead - cold. Without requiring all the boards to align curriculum etc. the MCI unilaterally decided on the curriculum. Worst of all, the decision to conduct this in Hindi -- and not in other Indian languages in addition to English. There are hundreds of millions of students who study in other mediums of instruction and they all would be left out. While those that are fortunate enough to have India as “Punya Bhoomi” (== those who study in Hindi medium alone) will benefit. More than anything this singular reason is enough to stop this non-sense. Similarly the present exams in AIEEE and AIMT should also be abolished as they give undue advantage to Hindi medium students. Mind you, boards of AP/TN etc. each deal with more number of students than CBSE, yet through sheer arrogance things are being shifted towards CBSE curriculum only, causing a market shift towards it in these states and elsewhere.
The common argument for excluding all other languages given is “The medium of medical education is in English”. True, if that is valid enough to exclude Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali etc. why accommodate Hindi medium, they also have to study medicine in English isn’t it ? The right solution is to conduct this entrance exam in all official languages of India.
One more thorn in the flesh is that as usual, “minority institutions” can have their own entrance exams, but they are just required to have candidates also qualify in this so called all india exam. In a nutshell, Hindu run institutions and deemed universities are getting shafted.
Thankfully, better sense prevailed, Union health ministry admonished the MCI. Madras HC also stayed this so called “national exam”. We need to be ever more vigilant and ensure that “Unity in Diversity” is not just paid lip-service to -- by Delhi based so called “Central” institutions, but are actually required live up to it…. Start work towards abolishing any national Entrance Exam unless it is conducted in all official languages of India. If we are really serious about unity in diversity then there is no other way.
This was so enlightening. I never had the perspective nor needed to as I wasn't wearing that "shoe".
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