Parents of children studying in Indian Schools in Oman have submitted a mass petition requesting the reinstatement of the cancelled NEET examination centre in Oman to the Indian Ambassador to Oman at the open forum held at the embassy on Friday.
The NEET examination centre was started in Oman at the Indian School Muscat centre after petitions were submitted to the Members of Parliament, Elamaram Karim, and John Brittas, after they raised the issue in the Indian Parliament in 2022.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), under whose umbrella the crucial NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) exams are held, has recently announced that the centres in Oman and other Gulf countries would be cancelled as the registration process for the NEET UG 2024 began and that a total of 554 centres across India have been said to be available for candidates.
But the exemption of Gulf countries, including Oman, where 21 Indian schools are operating, from the list this year has now created a crisis that affects the future of students, according to the parents.
"The new decision has created a crisis for expatriate parents who are facing financial difficulties due to various reasons," members of Kairali, a gathering of the diaspora in Oman told Observer.
They added that with the skyrocketing seasonal airfares and as the online registration for NEET exam has already begun, the sudden decision to cancel the examination centre in the Gulf countries including Oman has created serious concern among the students, and has become nearly impossible to afford to send their wards to take NEET exams back home.
A group of parents led by Kairali Oman held talks with Amit Narang, Indian Ambassador of India to Oman, and demanded immediate re-establishment of the NEET exam centre in Oman.
There are 21 Indian schools and nearly 45,000 students spread across the country and over 500 NEET aspirants in the country.
Representatives of the parents, Sudhi Padmanabhan, Shaji Sebastian, Manoj Peringeth, Arun VM, Mithun Mohan and others said that the ambassador assured the concern of the parents and students and the matter would be brought to the attention of the Union Ministry of Education and NEET authorities immediately.
Earlier, the representatives of the Indian parent group of NEET aspirants in the country submitted a memorandum to the Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, V Muraleedharan to consider the request.
Parents recalled that there is an exam centre for JEE in Muscat, under NTA, which is very effective for the local JEE aspirants.
Referring to the allotment of NEET Exam centres in Kuwait and Dubai recently, the representatives said allotting a centre in Oman would only help hundreds of such students to take a step forward towards their academic goals.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
