Bengaluru: As many as 2,357 students have registered for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-PG in Karnataka after the cut-off percentile was lowered.The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences lowered the qualifying cut-off for general/EWS (economically weaker sections) candidates from the 50th percentile (276 marks out of 800) to 7th percentile (103). For general persons with benchmark disabilities, it was brought down from the 45th percentile (255) to 5th percentile (90). For SC/ST/OBC candidates, it was reduced to 0 percentile, which meant a student with -40 marks out of 800 could also qualify.
In Karnataka, a total of 14,400 students had registered for NEET-PG counselling. After the lowering of cut-off, another 2,357 students have registered. In all, there were 4,823 seats up for grabs, including the 1,645 available in the third round of counselling.The Supreme Court has said it will examine whether the low cut-off would impact the quality of education. While many have expressed concern about the quality of students getting admitted in the course, many educationists feel the cut-off should be lowered to fill vacant seats.“NEET-PG is a competitive exam to find out inter se merit (order of merit). So it is okay to reduce the percentile as long as there are vacant seats,” said an educationist. “Whether NEET-PG is required at all is to be debated. The National Medical Commission had proposed a national exit test which was supposed to standardise the final exam and teaching, and replace NEET-PG. However, they postponed it for some reason,” he added.The chairman of a medical college said: “The pre- and para-clinical subjects are still lying vacant despite the lowering of cut-off. The intake has increased substantially, but students continue to choose clinical subjects. It may be better not to have a cut-off at all in the coming years… It’s like a white elephant. The vacant seats are a big burden on us, as the running costs are huge for a medical college.”
