The CBSE today declared to conduct the All India Pre-Medical/ Pre-Dental Entrance Test (AIPMET) on the pattern of last year to fill 15 per cent merit of the all-India quota seats in government medical and dental colleges all over the country.
It has set aside all plans of a common entrance test for MBBS and BDS admission across India’s government and private medical and dental colleges.
As every state government conducts its own entrance test and many private medical college associations, deemed universities and minority institutes in the country also have their own entrance tests to fill MBBS seats, the Health Ministry — two months back — had mooted a proposal to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 to give the Medical Council of India (MCI) power to hold a single national medical entrance examination for all colleges.
The IMC (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was referred to the MCI which — in its general body meeting on October 1 — approved the changes. The MCI had sent their recommendation to the Ministry of Health and Family Planning.
But as there has been no approval to the recommendation so far, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced its date for the AIPMET today.
AIPMET will be held on May 1, 2016 (Sunday), announced the CBSE in a public notice today. The notification for submission of online application will be issued in third week of December 2015, read the public notice.
Sources in Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) said that to conduct a single entrance exam for all medical colleges in the country, offering about 70,000 MBBS seats, the Health Ministry and MCI want some amendments in the IMC Act to remove legal hurdles as most of private medical colleges and deemed universities oppose a single entrance exam.
Due to the legal hurdles raised by some private colleges, in 2013, the Supreme Court had rejected the single exam proposal — National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
The NEET was aimed at helping the candidates limit the number of tests they need to take for admission.
The state government is yet to decide about its participation in AIPMET. Whether the state is going to conduct its own Pre-Medical Entrance Test (PMET) or it would rely on AIPMET to fill its over 2,100 MBBS and BDS seats is yet to be decided, said sources in the medical university.
Before PMET-2015, which was heavily bogged down with litigation due to many controversies, Punjab was relying on AIPMET for admissions to its medical and dental colleges.
Punjab had switched over to AIPMET in 2009 after its PMET-2008 faced the problem of impersonation and cheating in the exam.
But Punjab had its own problem with AIPMET. In 2014, an adequate number of Punjab students could not clear the test. As obtaining minimum 50 per cent marks in the AIPMET is mandatory to get admission to MBBS or BDS course (5 and 10 per cent relaxation in case of BC and SC category students), a large number of medical and dental seats remained vacant in Punjab in 2014.
Out of over 15,000 students from Punjab who had appeared in AIPMET-2014, only 1,400 cleared the test, leaving 906 BDS and 122 MBBS seats vacant. So Punjab decided to again conduct its own PMET in 2015.
It has set aside all plans of a common entrance test for MBBS and BDS admission across India’s government and private medical and dental colleges.
As every state government conducts its own entrance test and many private medical college associations, deemed universities and minority institutes in the country also have their own entrance tests to fill MBBS seats, the Health Ministry — two months back — had mooted a proposal to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 to give the Medical Council of India (MCI) power to hold a single national medical entrance examination for all colleges.
The IMC (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was referred to the MCI which — in its general body meeting on October 1 — approved the changes. The MCI had sent their recommendation to the Ministry of Health and Family Planning.
But as there has been no approval to the recommendation so far, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced its date for the AIPMET today.
AIPMET will be held on May 1, 2016 (Sunday), announced the CBSE in a public notice today. The notification for submission of online application will be issued in third week of December 2015, read the public notice.
Sources in Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) said that to conduct a single entrance exam for all medical colleges in the country, offering about 70,000 MBBS seats, the Health Ministry and MCI want some amendments in the IMC Act to remove legal hurdles as most of private medical colleges and deemed universities oppose a single entrance exam.
Due to the legal hurdles raised by some private colleges, in 2013, the Supreme Court had rejected the single exam proposal — National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
The NEET was aimed at helping the candidates limit the number of tests they need to take for admission.
The state government is yet to decide about its participation in AIPMET. Whether the state is going to conduct its own Pre-Medical Entrance Test (PMET) or it would rely on AIPMET to fill its over 2,100 MBBS and BDS seats is yet to be decided, said sources in the medical university.
Before PMET-2015, which was heavily bogged down with litigation due to many controversies, Punjab was relying on AIPMET for admissions to its medical and dental colleges.
Punjab had switched over to AIPMET in 2009 after its PMET-2008 faced the problem of impersonation and cheating in the exam.
But Punjab had its own problem with AIPMET. In 2014, an adequate number of Punjab students could not clear the test. As obtaining minimum 50 per cent marks in the AIPMET is mandatory to get admission to MBBS or BDS course (5 and 10 per cent relaxation in case of BC and SC category students), a large number of medical and dental seats remained vacant in Punjab in 2014.
Out of over 15,000 students from Punjab who had appeared in AIPMET-2014, only 1,400 cleared the test, leaving 906 BDS and 122 MBBS seats vacant. So Punjab decided to again conduct its own PMET in 2015.
