Gujarat holds entrance test GUJCET; approaches SC on NEET

Ahmedabad: A day after the Supreme Court rejected pleas of state governments to allow them to hold separate entrance tests for MBBS and BDS courses, the Gujarat government on Tuesday held the Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GUJCET) for medical and other courses, as per its schedule. The state government has also approached the Supreme Court against Monday’s verdict which said only National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) provides for conducting such test for admission to these courses. “There are courses other than medical and dental which are covered under GUJCET. Let’s see what happens as we have approached the Supreme Court with another application (against the verdict on NEET),” Gujarat government spokesman and Health minister Nitin Patel said. However, he did not give more details on the matter. [caption id=“attachment_2774908” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Firstpost[/caption] GUJCET is a common admission test for admission to medical, dental, physiotherapy, and alternative medicine programmes offered by government, government-aided institutes and private institutes in the state. Over 68,000 students today appeared for the examinations. The Supreme Court had on Monday rejected pleas of state governments, including Gujarat, and minority institutions to allow them to conduct separate tests for admission to medical courses for the academic year 2016-17. The top court had approved treating All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) held on 1 May as NEET-I. Another phase of the test, NEET-II, will be held on 24 July in which students who could not appear for NEET-I could apply. The combined result will be declared on 17 August so that the admission process can be completed by 30 September. The apex court had rejected the contention of the petitioners — including state governments, minority institutions and private medical colleges — that they have legislative competence to hold separate entrance tests. Meanwhile, the parents of medical aspirants who appeared for GUJCET, held protests outside several examination centres across the state and raised slogans against the NEET. They expressed their opposition to the Centre’s move to hold a single entrance test, stating that their children were not prepared for the same.