Panaji: Even as the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) (UG) stands cancelled, the directorate of technical education (DTE) has started the process of accepting applications for all professional degree programmes in the state, including NEET-based courses. Officials said that the DTE will continue the process of accepting applications from students who wish to join the medicine, dentistry, ayurveda, homeopathy, veterinary services, nursing and allied health programmes, admissions to which are NEET-based.Officials also said that the students’ documents will be collected during the application process and the NEET scores will be added later, as and when the new test is held and the results declared.Every year, around Rs 5,000 students take the NEET in Goa, as it is the basis of admissions to the medicine, dentistry, ayurveda, homeopathy, nursing, veterinary services degree programmes. Also, the NEET score is taken into account for admission to five allied health programmes offered at Goa Medical College, which include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, optometry, medical imaging tech, and anaesthesia technology.Additionally, a new bachelor’s programme has been introduced recently in naturopathy and yogic science, at the institute run by chief minister Pramod Sawant’s foundation at Sanquelim. For this too, the NEET score is counted.Also, for the pharmacy degree programme, students can opt to either answer NEET or the JEE (Mains). Any one of these scores can be taken into account for the merit list.The process of receiving applications began on May 11 and will continue till May 22. Last year, applications were received across seven centres in the state.But this year, for students’ convenience, the applications will be accepted at ten centres, including new centres in the remote talukas of Pernem and Canacona. Earlier, students from Canacona, for instance, had to travel all the way to Margao to submit their applications.“Faculty from colleges are deployed at these centres, who guide the students on what documents are required and whether their application is in order. Once all required documents are there, the students can pay the application fee on the spot. This helps guide the students rather than accepting applications online. We will continue to receive the applications and once the NEET score comes, the students can submit the same and the merit list will be drawn up accordingly,” said an official.Based on the merit list, a counselling round is held and seats are allocated accordingly.The ongoing application process is also applicable for other courses for which admission processes are based on JEE, like engineering programmes.
