Bhubaneswar: The state government Friday clarified that the Centre had not informed state about conducting the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in regional languages for which it picked English as the medium of the test.
During a video conferencing November 28 a check list was given to state in which the Centre had not specified anything about inclusion of regional languages in NEET, said directorate of medical education and training (DMET) joint director Umakanta Satpathy, adding, “Had we known about the Centre’s decision we would have demanded inclusion of Oriya in the entrance test.”
He further said the medical entrance test has never been conducted in regional languages previously for which the state government proposed English as the medium of the test.
“When the Centre decided to conduct the test in regional language it had not sought the state government’s opinion,” he added.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inclusion of Oriya as a medium of examination in the prestigious test for medical entrance.
The issue cropped up after the Union Health Ministry Wednesday said NEET-UG will be conducted in eight languages from 2017-18 academic year. The eight languages are Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu and Tamil.
The state government contends that the new move will put students from Orissa, who have studied in Oriya, at a great disadvantage as it will provide a competitive advantage for the students reading in six other regional languages to the detriment of those from Orissa.
The issue has also taken a political overtone with BJD student wing submitting a memo to Governor SC Jamir in this regard. Meanwhile, the state unit of BJP Friday reiterated its stand that it was the state government which has chosen English as the medium of NEET.
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