By: Sakshi Awasthi on March 20, 2018
NEET exam was earlier available in English, Hindi and 8 vernacular languages i.e. Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada but from the academic year 2018, a new language is added to this list. Now the candidates can give NEET Entrance Exam in Urdu also. In response to the online petition filed by Student Islamic Organization (SIO) last year, the Supreme court of India agreed with the Central Government to include Urdu as a language in NEET 2018.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A M Khanwilkar noted the submission made by Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Central Government, that the Centre is in favor of conducting National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in Urdu medium from the academic year 2018.
NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) is an entrance exam conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Candidates desiring to seek admissions in any Graduate Medical course i.e. MBBS, BDS or any postgraduate course like MD or MS in government or private medical college must qualify NEET 2018. In 2013 NEET replaced the All India Pre Medical Exam (AIPMT) and other medical exams conducted by States and Colleges themselves. Apart from NEET, there are 3 more entrance exams for Medical courses. Undergraduate Courses at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, Post Graduate Institute of Research in Chandigarh and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) conducts their separate entrance exam as these Institutes are set under a separate law.
The latest notification released by CBSE confirms that the NEET 2018 Entrance Exam will also be conducted in Urdu apart from other 10 languages. The notification declares that Candidates opting for English will be provided with question paper only in the English language whereas Candidates opting for Urdu or any other Vernacular Language will get a Bilingual Question Paper which will include language chosen by the candidate and English. Due to the translation error, the English newspaper is considered final and correct.
According to the notification, Hindi and Urdu language would be applicable to all the centers across the country. Whereas the vernacular language question papers will be available at individual states based on the language.
