Vellore’s CMC halts admissions over NEET

Tamil Nadu’s Christian Medical College (CMC) has decided to suspend admissions for its popular MBBS and super speciality courses for the next academic session, claiming that government guidelines restrain the institute from following its own admission processes.

A senior official at the Vellore-based institute told HT that CMC had an objection to the rule that colleges had to admit students solely on the basis of marks scored in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET. This, he said, undermined the institute’s reputation.

“We have not objected to NEET at all. It is a qualifying examination as far as CMC is concerned. But we conduct a series of tests and interviews of candidates to check if they possess all the qualities we are looking for people in the medical profession,” the official said. He said the NEET gives only the scores and it is clearly not enough to judge a candidate.

“We need to check their leadership skills, if they were team players, have the commitment to serve the society, among other things. Which is why it takes three days to complete the tests and interview process,” he added.

A private, minority-run educational and research institute, the CMC follows a three-day admission process to shortlist students under which they conduct a test to check their aptitude and commitment to serve in rural areas. Only 15% of the seats in undergraduate medical courses are available for general candidates, the rest are reserved for people from the minority Christian community. The students have to serve for two years in the hospitals run by Christian missionaries.

Article 30(1) guarantees minorities, both religious and linguistic, the right “to establish and administer educational institutions” of their choice. “Since our admission process gets completed by July, a decision was taken to suspend admissions for the current academic year,” he added.

However, admissions to postgraduate courses were completed under CMC’s internal admission procedure. Meanwhile, a body of medical professionals – Doctors’ Association for Social Equality (DASE) – said CMC’s decision to not admit students was “unacceptable”. “If it (CMC) wants to fight for its rights in admission process as a minority institution, it must get legal remedy,” the DASE said in a press statement said, adding that the decision to stop admissions was not an appropriate method of protest.

A CMC OFFICIAL SAID THE INSTITUTE HAD OBJECTIONS TO NEET SCORE BEING THE SOLE BASIS FOR ADMISSION