NEET 2019 To Be In Fewer Regional Languages; Only 8% Opt For Them

NEET 2018 has recently been conducted. It was conducted on May 06, 2018 in 11 languages which include English, Hindi, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya Tamil and Telugu. Around 8% of the total 13.35 lakh, students had opted for the regional languages this year compared to the last year ‘s figure of 10 percent.

Seeing this minimal percentage of the students opting for regional languages, they are reconsidering ending the regional languages in the paper and reverting to English from the next NEET paper i.e. NEET 2019.

This year,  over 10 lakh of the total appeared students used English, around one lakh used Hindu, while the rest used other languages like Assamese, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Oriya, Bengali, Urdu, Telugu and Kannada. Oriya has the least number of takers with less than 300 candidates writing the NEET 2018 Exam in this language.

Bengali was another language which saw the biggest fall. Among the regional languages, the most popular medium remains Gujarati, while Urdu, the latest language in the list after a petition in the Supreme Court, found only 1,700 takers. Kannada with 818 students was another least preferred language among the aspirants.

According to a senior official in the Directorate of Health Services, there was a huge demand from various states for including regional languages in NEET, since many states conducted their own medical entrance exams in their respective languages before it became centralised. They say if the numbers in regional languages are not many and students start getting comfortable with English, they might just revert to English,” the official said.

However, some regional languages will be included even if the decision is implemented. This is so because the Supreme Court had given an order to this effect. It will be seen how it goes. The final decision on the languages will be taken in the coming years.

According to them, this choice of regional languages will be until the entrance examination level only. Once a student is selected to a college, they need to study in English only. For students from regional languages, the Medical Council of India will arrange a two-month foundation course to make them familiar with some terms which they might be unfamiliar with.

NEEt is the only undergraduate professional examination in which the question paper for all the three sections i,e. Physics, Chemistry and Biology is administered in many national languages following the demands by several state governments.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET-UG is an entrance examination in India, for medical aspirants who wish to study any graduate medical course (MBBS), dental course (BDS) or postgraduate course (MD / MS) in government or private medical colleges in India. NEET-UG (Undergraduate), for MBBS and BDS courses, are conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Previously it was known as All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT).

This year, more than 13 lakh candidates had appeared for the exam across different states of India. This is considered as one of the important examinations for the medical aspirants across India.