TN State Medical Colleges-50% Marks Made Mandatory

On Raising the strict rules for Medical Education in Tamil Nadu, the State Medical University on Thursday made it mandatory for students to score minimum of 50% marks in every paper in order to clear examinations.

The MCI (Medical Council of India) has given its nod for raising the standards, Tamil Nadu Dr.MGR Medical University Vice-Chancellor Dr-Mayil Vahanan Natrajan said the University was the first in the country to raise the minimum. Marks.

However, the university had withheld the first year MBBS results, which were to be announced on October 8, as it was awaiting ACI's opinion on whether it can increase the minimum marks required to clear the examinations. Dr.Natarajan told that "This time it is unlikely that we will revise the results". Also a senior university official said that the first year MBBS results will be declared on Friday and said atleast 40% of the students have failed to clear the examinations.

According to the sources the rule was first introduced in 2011 and only 60% of the students managed to clear the examinations. The failed students petitioned Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and moved to the Madras High Court. After CM's intervention, the university decided to go back to the old system.

On Thursday, MCI secretary Sanjay Shrivastava wrote to the University registrar saying while all institutions are to stick to the guidelines set by the regulatory board, they are free to set a high standard. Dr Natarajan announced about the new rules and said "MCI has said we can frame higher standards. Raising the pass marks is one way to make medical training more rigorous. They can't say I failed in the anatomy first paper but scores high in the second paper".

However, by 2013, the University will again increase the minimum pass marks to 60%.