The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses will be conducted on August 1, the Ministry of Education's National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Friday.
"The NEET (UG), 2021, is going to be conducted by NTA for admission to MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BSMS, BUMS and BHMS courses as per the relevant norms, guidelines and regulations notified by the regulatory bodies concerned.
"The exam will be conducted in 11 languages, including Hindi and English, through pen and paper mode on August 1," the NTA said in an official notification.
Bulletin containing detailed information regarding the test, syllabus, eligibility criteria for age, reservation, categorisation of seats, examination fee, cities of examination, state code will be available shortly when the submission of the application form for NEET (UG) starts, it added.
Candidates have been advised to keep visiting the official websites — nta.nic.in and ntaneet.nic.in — for updates regarding the examination.
Admission to MBBS programmes at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) are through NEET.
Last week, a government official had said that there would be no change in the exam pattern. The Ministry of Education had asked if the exam could be held online and with greater frequency than once in a year, reported the Times of India. This was because with JEE (Mains) being conducted more than once and aspirants’ scores improving in the second attempt, the government demanded that the NEET-UG also be held more than once a year.
NEET in 2020 was held on September 13 despite opposition in the days leading up to the test from several quarters, including students and political parties. It was held with COVID-19 protocols being followed. A total of 15.97 lakh students had registered for the test, of which Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal said that the exam saw an attendance of 85-90%. The exam recorded a pass percentage of 56.44%.
With PTI inputs