Kolkata: Strongly condemning the disparity in the question paper in English and Bengali for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the Mamata Banerjee government said that it would write to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) alleging that it is a ploy on the part of the Centre to deprive students from Bengal at the national-level. The NEET, conducted by the CBSE for admission into state and and national-level medical, dental, Ayush and veterinary colleges, was held across the country on Sunday.
“The Bengali question paper is tougher than that in English. This is not at all desired in a common entrance test like NEET. Students from the state are being deprived deliberately. We strongly protest this discrimination on the part of the CBSE and we will write to the CBSE chief,” state education minister Partha Chatterjee said at the state secreteriat Nabanna. He said that a number of students and guardians called him up and also sent him text messages on Sunday demanding chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s intervention. “The chief minister is also pained at this. What the CBSE has done in the name of common entrance test is an attempt to make our students lag behind in the national level. We will go the maximum extent to ensure that the CBSE rectifies its mistake,” he said adding that he will talk with the health department on this issue.
The minister also hinted at the Central government’s discrimination in this matter. “The CBSE must have done this at the behest of somebody. But, we cannot take things for granted,” he said. Many students has complained that the tougher questions will deprive them of a good all-India rank.
The state governement had opposed the Centre’s decision to hold a common entrance test in engineering, following which the Centre put it on hold. “I had personally written to the Centre, opposing the common entrance test in engineering. We have the Joint Entrance Board that has been conducting this examination with success from a long time back. I also met the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) chairman at Kalyani and told him about our inhibitions,” Mr Chatterjee said.
