Aspirants of INICET 2021 took to Twitter to flood messages on Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor, requesting him to postpone the entrance exam which is slated for June 16, 2021. As of now, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has planned to conduct the Institute of National Importance Common Entrance Test (INI CET) 2021 next week. Admit cards for the same shall be issued to all the registered candidates within two days June 09, 2021. Candidates can download their hall tickets from the official website aiimsexams.ac.in. However, candidates are unwilling to attend the online entrance exam amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier in May 2021, the Prime Minister’s Office announced the postponement of the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) PG 2021 for four months. This was done to tackle two problems – the second wave of COVID19 and the shortage of medical manpower. After hearing this decision, candidates expected the same to be followed in case of INI CET 2021.
To everyone’s surprise, AIIMS released a notice on the official website aiimsexams.ac.in announcing the revised schedule for INI CET 2021. Accordingly, the admit cards are scheduled to release on June 09, 2021, as opposed to April 30, 2021, before. Similarly, candidates were expected to submit a “No Objection Certificate” issued by the government on or before June 16, 2021, up to 5:00 pm. The exam is now slated for June 16, 2021, as opposed to May 08, 2021.
Other than requesting Mr Shashi Tharoor via the microblogging social media platform, INI CET 2021 aspirants have been incessantly demanding the postponement of exams due to multiple reasons. The main reason is that the exam has been scheduled on short notice. Many aspirants are functioning as frontline workers on COVID19 duty.
According to one INICET aspirants, the central government asked MBBS pass-outs to participate in 100 days of COVID-19 duty during the second wave. Furthermore, they were offered PM Samman certificates along with an important assurance. According to which the medical exams would not be conducted on or before August 31, 2021. Thus, the conduction of INI CET 2021 is entirely contradicting this assurance.
Another aspirant stated that under normal circumstances, managing hospital duty and exams is never an issue. However, under the current instances of the second wave, leaving Covid-duty cannot be an option. Thus, postponing is the only solution and a win-win situation for all – doctors as well as patients.
Along with this, many doctors have already signed a 3-month bond with hospitals to function as frontline workers. Hence, to leave this bond, students have to inform one month prior. Thus, authorities must reconsider their decision of conducting national-level exams on such short notice.
As of now, AIIMS authorities are yet to comment on this issue. With the furor for postponement increasing every day, authorities may postpone the exams for the same time as NEET PG 2021. Till then, students are advised to visit the official website consistently and not believe any speculations from unreliable sources.
