Admission into MBBS, BDS courses
SHILLONG: Following on the orders of the Central Government, the Meghalaya Government has decided to conduct an entrance test to select students for admission into various MBBS and BDS seats reserved under the Central quota.
This is the first time that students of the State aspiring to pursue MBBS and BDS courses will have to appear for an entrance test, unlike in the past when the seats were allotted on merit as per the percentage of marks scored in the Higher Secondary level examinations conducted by the various State and Central boards.
“We have received a directive from the Centre to conduct the entrance test,” Director of Health Services Dr. E Dkhar informed on Sunday.
He informed that they are scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss details of this proposed entrance test.
Meanwhile, official sources revealed that the Centre has issued the entrance test directive to all the states.
The sources, quoting the directive, informed that in case the states are unable to conduct the entrance test, the concerned state government can fill up the quota seats on the basis of the results of the all India-level entrance examination.
“The Meghalaya Government does not want to take a risk by considering the results of the all India-level entrance examination since there could be many students from institutions located in far flung areas who would be unaware of such qualifying examinations,” the sources said, while adding that the all India-level examination was conducted on May 4.
Meanwhile, students who have applied for the quota seats for admission into MBBS and BDS courses have come out in opposition to this directive.
“It is totally unjustified to hold this entrance test since the State Government had always prepared the merit list based on the percentage of marks obtained in the higher secondary examinations,” the affected students said.
They have also questioned why the State Government did not publicize the order for the proposed entrance examination before the announcement of the results of the higher secondary examinations conducted by MBOSE.