AM Toshi Jamir
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Cabinet approved the proposal of the Department of Higher and Technical Education, Nagaland, that Entrance Test for admission to MBBS and other Technical courses should be conducted from 1994 (1994-95 academic session) in order to ensure fairness. This is being done to obviate the larger number of complaints received from students and parents to the effect that due to different systems of examinations by various Universities, North Eastern Hill University is put in disadvantage’’. Dated 29th July 1994. The colleges in Nagaland were affiliated to NEHU at that point of time. Nagaland University came into being only from 1994.
Following the above mentioned approval, a Notification was issued, namely, THE NAGALAND TECHNICAL / PROFFESSIONAL DEGREE COURSES (SELECTION OF CANDIDATES)RULES 1995, to, amongst other things, conduct the Joint Entrance (written )Examination from 1994-95 academic session for selection and nomination by the Government to various Engineering, Medical and Allied Courses.According to the said Notification, ‘The selection of candidates for nomination of candidates against the available seats shall be made by the STATE COMMON SELECTION BOARD on the basis of the merit list prepared by the Board of JOINT ENTRANCE EXAMINATION subject to the admission criteria laid down by the Institution to which the candidate is nominated’’. The Nagaland Board of School Education was made the written examination Conducting Agency. After the conduct of the examination, the Merit List was to be sent to the Nodal Department, namely, Department of Higher & Technical Education.
Prior to the conduct of Joint Entrance Examination startingfrom 1994-95 academic session, the selection of candidates was done by the State Common Selection Board on the basis of Merit determined from the MARKS obtained inthe concerned Subjects(at the Higher Secondary/Pre-University or equivalent examination).The Selection Board was first constituted on 19th April 1979 which consisted of Minister of Education (Chairman), Director of Education (Member-Secretary) and other Members from the concerned Departments. For the sake of information, during 1998-99, the Board consisted of the Minister, Higher & Technical Education, Nagaland (Chairman); Commissioner & Secretary/AHOD, Higher & Technical Education ; Director, Higher & Technical Education (Member-Secretary); and other members were, namely, Director, Medical Services; Director ,Veterinary & Animal Husbandry; Director, Agriculture; Chief Engineer, Housing; Chief Engineer, Road & Bridges; Additional Chief Engineer ,Mechanical; Chief Engineer ,Power (etc). Presently, the composition of the Board and the designations of the ex-officio Chairman and that of the ex-officio Secretary stand changed. Thus from 1979 to 1993 (14 years) the selection and nomination of candidates for various courses were done on the basis of the marks secured in the class 12/Pre-University or equivalent examinations conducted by various recognised Boards/ Universities in India.
In 1994, Government decided to reserve 15 % of the MBBS & allied and Engineering seats for the candidates from the nine backward tribes, namely, Chakhesang, Konyak, Sangtam, Phom, Khiamniungan, Chang, Yimchungrü, Zeliang and Pochury. Though this act of Government was a great relief for these nine tribes, yet another problem came up in the matter of selection of candidates . Under the present 15 % system, there was already a tendency for certain backward tribe(s) to get more seats leaving other tribes with less or none. To address this problem, in 1998, another refined Notification was issued in respect of the nine backward tribes, that is, “After careful consideration of the 15 percent reservation under the backwards tribe quota for technical studies (MBBS/BDS/Agri& Allied/Engineering etc Degree courses), the Government of Nagaland have decided that not more than one seat per tribe may be allotted to any of the backward tribe in a single year out of this quota so as to provide opportunity for all the backward tribes. This shall however be subject to merit, availability of seats and candidates from the said tribes.” It appears that the latest modification is doing its job well.
Accordingly, from 1994-95, the Joint Entrance Examination was conducted by the Department of Higher & Technical Education, Nagaland (as a Nodal Agency) for the Engineering, Medical and Allied degree courses on behalf of the Government of Nagaland.The conduct of the written examination was done by the Nagaland Board of School Education. From 1994-95 to 2005-06 (13 years), the Joint Entrance (written) Examination was looked after by the Department of Higher &Technical Education. In view of the formation of two Directorates, namely, Directorate of Higher Education (mainly to oversee the functioning/running of the non-technical Colleges) and Directorate of Technical Education ( mainly look after the Technical Education),
from 2006-07 the responsibility of managing the JEE & nomination of candidates for Engineering ,MBBS & allied courses were assigned to the latter (Directorate of Technical Education). Subsequently, the Head of the Department of Higher Education (as a Member in the State Common Selection Board) was dropped, for which the reason was best known to the concerned Authority.
The first Joint Entrance examination was conducted in the year 1994-95 for 86 seats in respect of MBBS & Allied courses and 72 Engineering degree seats. The seats were correspondingly increased vastly to 129 (MBBS & Allied) and 282 (Engineering) in 2013-14. Such seats are being received (both by the Department of Technical Education, Nagaland and also through the concerned other Sister Departments / Directorates) from the Govt of India, NEC, RIMS (etc).Over and above the Government’s quota, during the past two years or so, hundreds of local candidates have been admitted from PCM and PCB groups in different Institutions outside Nagaland due to the tireless initiative taken by the Naga Students’ Federation and the Eastern Naga Students’ Federation separately on their own. This has eased the problem of further studies after the completion of plus two science.
The seats received by the Government of Nagaland (through the concerned Administrative Heads of the Department (Secretaries to the Govt) and other Director(s) are meant for the local candidates which are supposed to be routed through the Joint Entrance Examination. But, on rare occasion(s), the Nodal Department had to come across harassments/inconveniences, including the Court Cases (from the candidates), for not disclosing the State Quota seatsreceived by certain seats receiving Department(s) in that particular year. It appears that due to the awareness and vigilant posture on the part of the general public such occasional issue has become almost non-existent at present.
From 2006-07 to 2012-13 (7 years) academic session, the Department of Technical Education, Government of Nagaland conducted the Joint Entrance Examination. However, from 2013 (2013-14 session), the conduct of Joint Entrance Examination has been discontinued in Nagaland. The State has joined the Mainstream and the examinations are conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi under two nomenclatures. During 2013, candidates aspiring for Engineering courses of studies sat in the JEE(Main). The PCB group of candidates sat in the NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test). NEET system has been replaced by AIPMT (All India Pre-Medical /Pre-Dental Entrance Test) from 2014 (2014-15 academic session). The
Government of Nagaland, represented by State Common Selection Boardfills up the State Quota seats (through the Directorate of Technical Education) out the merit list drawn from the CBSE examinations.
From 1979 to 2013 (34 years of selection & nomination of candidates),the State Common Selection Board, nay, the Nodal Department had tasted many sweet and bitter experiences. It is anticipated that joining the Mainstream (JEE- Main & AIPMT) from 2013 shall not in any great way lessen the tasks and accountability of the Nodal Department.
Ever since the State Common Selection Board was constituted in 1979, the number of Departments / Directorates have been increased manifold. Besides the increase in the number of new Departments; the division and further subdivision of the some existed Departments/Directorates had also contributed to this increase. To take one instance, the Department of Agriculture /Directorate of Agriculture had been bifurcated and sub-divided into Agriculture, Soil, Wasteland, Horticulture, Irrigation, etc. This calls for inclusion of the concerned Director /Head (s) of the Department in the State Common Selection Board ( if not already done), provided that Directorate(s) is receiving the State Government Quota of seats. Other Seats receiving Directorates like, Forests, Fishery (etc) may be considered for inclusion in the State Common Selection Board (if not already done). Revival of the Director Higher Education as a Member in the State Common Selection Board may also be considered ( if not already included ). Co-ordination / awareness meet may be held as per necessity amongst the Nagaland State Quota receiving Departments (Secretaries & Directors) to, amongst other things, streamline the emerging issues in respect of seats, selection and nomination of candidates. This will help in completely plucking the leakages of the seats which are being received by the Member Departments. In view of the switching over to the newly introduced JEE-Main and AIPMT system, the Nagaland Technical /Professional Degree Courses (Selection of candidates) Rules, 1995 and other Notifications issued from time to time may be reviewed and amended/superseded wherever necessary.The same may be issued for the awareness of the State Common Selection Board Members, JEE and AIPMT aspirants and the general public.
34 ( thirty-four) long years have passed by since the first State Common Selection Board was constituted in 1979 under the Chairmanship of Minister (Education), & Director of Education as the Member-Secretary. The manpower requirements of the State in respect of Technical and Professional Departmentshave been met during the past years and the Sons and Daughters of the Soil have taken over the related Departments which were under the command of Others.
(The Article writer is former Head of the Department, Higher and Technical Education, Government of Nagaland)
