BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today demanded that the Centre should include Odia language as a medium of examination in the prestigious National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
The chief minister sought the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard. "I am constrained to seek your personal intervention in the matter for incorporating Odia as a medium of examination for the ensuing NEET, in the larger interest of the students of my state," the chief minister said in a letter to the prime minister today.
"I understand that six regional languages, besides Hindi and English have been included as medium of examination for NEET from 2017-18 academic year," the chief minister said and added,"However, I find that Odia language has been conspicuously left out."
Stating that this will put students from Odisha who have studied in Odia at a great disadvantage, the chief minister said the decision of the Centre will provide competitive advantage for the students reading in six regional languages to the disadvantage of those from Odisha.
The chief minister said that the ministry of health and family welfare had not sought Odia as an option while taking the views of the state government on the medium of language to be adopted for the students of Odisha.
"This has now created wide spread resentment among the students of Odisha who will be appearing for NEET in 2017-17 academic year and onwards," he said.