By Manasvi Gupta
The National Medical Commission has scrapped the upper age limit for all the candidates who would sit in the undergraduate medical exam, NEET-UG, in 2022. The official statement was released on March 9. Earlier, in 2017, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had capped the upper age limit at 25 years for unreserved candidates and 30 years for the candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC category.
Dr. Pulkesh Kumar, Secretary NMC to Dr. Devvrat, Office of Senior Director, National Testing Agency, on March 9 circulated a formal communication in which Dr. Kumar said, “It has been decided in the 4th NMC meeting that…there should not be any fixed upper age limit for appearing in the NEET-UG examination. Therefore, the information bulletin may be modified accordingly.”
Reports also revealed that following the meeting, Dr. Kumar had asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) agency to remove the upper age limit criteria from the information bulletin of NEET UG 2022.
The Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya took to Twitter to announce the news. He wrote: "The National Medical Commission removes the fixed upper age limit for appearing in the NEET-UG examination. The decision will immensely benefit aspiring doctors and further help in strengthening medical education in the country."
The age criteria for the nationwide entrance exam had often been questioned in the Supreme Court and High Courts of the country. Following the decision, another official expressed his happiness and said that the scrapping of the age limit criteria would provide aspirants several chances to appear in the medical entrance exam even after they had taken admission to other courses.
NEET 2022 notification is expected to be announced by NTA on the official website this week. Followingly, the candidates will get to know about the relevant details i.e. registration, admit card release, exam date, important instructions, etc. This year the examination will be conducted in pen and paper mode. Candidates can keep an eye on our website for more information.
On the other hand, the registrations for the NEET UG Counselling 2021 Mop-up round has begun, as per the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). Candidates can register themselves on the official website before March 14, 2022.
