Minister for medical education Kondru Murali on Friday said the state has written a letter to the Central government seeking time till 2014 to implement Neet. This was to enable the old batch of Intermediate (10+2) students, who took admission in the first year of the course during the last academic year (2011-12) and are now in the second and final year of the course, to appear for Eamcet medical tests as usual in 2013.
“The students from the old batch have already completed the first year of their 10+2 course in the old syllabus. They have also completed four months of the second year course this year in the old syllabus. At this stage, it would not be correct to ask them to appear for a new test like Neet with the new syllabus. There isn’t sufficient time left for these students to prepare for Neet at this stage. “This may affect the prospects of our students. For this reason, we have urged the Centre to exempt AP students from Neet till the year 2014 so that a fresh batch of Inter students, who took admission this year, can prepare for Neet accordingly,” he said.
Mr Murali added that the government is trying to conduct Eamcet medical tests as usual in 2013 but asked the students to prepare for Neet simultaneously, since it all depends on the decision the Centre will take over the exemption of AP students. The government also needs to amend the AP Educational Institutions Act, 1982 under which Eamcet was introduced, to scrap Eamcet medical tests and pave the way for Neet.