Private medical colleges from several states have come together to pressurise the Centre to make National Eligibility-cumEntrance Test for MBBS admissions optional and not mandatory.
The Union health ministry is making arrangements to conduct the first Neet in 2013 as directed by the Supreme Court.

The states’ argument is that the curriculum varies from state to state and a national common test will not work. The managements have decided to submit a representation to the Centre soon urging it to make Neet optional.

The managements of several private medical colleges from AP, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Maharashtra will meet in Bengaluru on Wednesday to discuss Neet.

The managements said that there are 24 Boards at 10+2 level across the country teaching different curricula. Unless there was uniformity in the curricula across all the Boards, it would be difficult to arrive at a common merit list, based on which admissions have to be given.

They also said that poor and rural students will be at a disadvantage as there will be no coaching facilities for them to prepare for national-level tests like Neet.