Include Urdu in NEET exam for 2018-19 session: SC tells Centre

Earlier, on March 31 the apex court had announced that candidates who are above 25 years of age are also eligible to appear for NEET

By: News Desk |
April 13, 2017 4:04 pm

Supreme Court on Thursday directed Centre to include Urdu as one of the languages for 2018-2019 session of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam, therefore, language will not be part of the test that will take place this year.

The decision has come after the Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO) has filed a petition in Supreme Court that NEET exam should be conducted in Urdu language also. The test can be given in 10 languages that include Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada.

In an affidavit filed by SIO national secretary Thouseef Ahamad, he said “As the language is associated with Muslim religion, the government functionaries are prejudiced and biased and have deliberately excluded the Urdu language as medium for the NEET exams.”

NEET case: Supreme Court directs Centre to include Urdu as a language for 2018-19 session of NEET exam pic.twitter.com/ypeFt57yEm

— ANI (@ANI_news) April 13, 2017

NEET exam is scheduled to be held on May 7, therefore Urdu will not be included in 2017-2018 session. Few days back, Centre has informed the apex court that it is open to include any language, however, it will not be feasible to include the language from this year.

Earlier, on March 31 the apex court had announced that candidates who are above 25 years of age are also eligible to appear for NEET , and also extended the last date for filing the forms till April 5. Earlier, the last date for filling up the form was March 1 . The last date for filing the form was April 5. NEET exam will be conducted in 80 cities at 1,500 examination centres across the country. After scrapping age bar, all medical aspirants can appear for NEET irrespective of their age.