A Muslim students organisation today protested the government's decision to disallow Urdu as a medium for the NEET-UG examination, saying it was unconstitutional and discriminated against the Urdu-medium students across the country.
Addressing a press conference here, Mohammad Ali Sheikh, a senior associate of Students Islamic Organisation of India, said, "We are vehemently against the Government of India's unjust move to exclude Urdu language from NEET-UG 2017, and we are going to file a petition in the apex court against it."
More than 20,000 seats of medical, paramedical and allied courses such as MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BUMS, BHMS in Government and private colleges in Maharashtra were now out of reach for Urdu-medium students, as Maharashtra Government State Common Entrance Test Cell had already notified that admissions to these courses will be through NEET-UG 2017, he said.
"These students are now forced to opt for an unfamiliar language in which they have not studied the physics, chemistry and biology....NEET is now the only door to medical education in the country. By not including Urdu, the government has effectively shut that door on many deserving students," he said.
When Oriya and Kannada can find a place (in the list of languages), why Urdu is being singled out, he said, adding the exclusion may further reduce higher education opportunities for the minority community students.
In Maharashtra alone there are 168 Urdu-medium junior science colleges, and over 15,000 Urdu-medium students appear for (std 12th) HSC Board examination from science stream every year, he said.
Seeing no "respite and bleak future", the organisation was going to move the Supreme Court, Sheikh said.
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