No more Joint Entrance Exams (JEE) for aspiring to be doctors from West Bengal. Agreeing to the plan proposed by the Medical Council of India (MCI), the West Bengal state government has announced that the students, who are interested in pursuing medical degree, will be participating in the Common Entrance Test (CET). This test is conducted across India and just like the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE), which is current test in place, the CET will be allocated with 85% of the seats in the state’s various medical colleges for the local students.

Sushant Banerjee, the Director of Medical Education in West Bengal, expressed his concern over the admissions based on the CET but he has been assured by the MCI that state government’s reservations against CET are unfounded. The council ensured the team lead by Sushant Banerjee that the test will be conducted in Bengali as well to level the playing field for the Bengali students in this national-level entrance test.

But the syllabus of the state government continues to remain as a concern as it is not consistent with the syllabus followed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Students from the schools which follow the state board syllabus may find the CET particularly challenging unless the existing syllabus is upgraded to the CBSE standards.

On the other hand, in an effort to ensure the meritorious students do not miss out on the opportunity to become a doctor due to existing syllabus, the local medical colleges are proposing merit-based admissions in addition to the CET-based admissions.