News : Only 1.6 Lakh Students Sit For CBSE AIPMT 2008 :

Only 1.6 lakh students appeared for the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) 2008 conducted by the CBSE. It's a significant - 40,000 - drop in numbers, a substantial 25% decrease from last year.

For Delhi, the numbers are more alarming. Only 26,366 students appeared for the paper, as against the almost 40,000 students who sat for the entrance in 2007. That the numbers highlight the huge disparity between salaries of doctors and other professionals is a fact that even CBSE acknowledges.

What are the reasons ?

While one of the reasons is changes in eligibility criteria, the larger reason is that more students are preferring to opt for engineering.

Analysts feel that the main reason the long gestation period in medicine before one gets a degree and starts earning has always been a deterrent, which has only gotten highlighted by the huge salaries that engineers, armed with an additional management degree, are getting nowadays.

In Engineering the number of students applying for engineering exams is increasing every year while medicine doesn't see a corresponding increase. In 2008, more than 8 lakh applicants have already signed on for the AIEEE 2008 - an engineering entrance conducted by CBSE.

While there is a declining trend of aspirants for PMT, the number of students wanting to appear for the IIT entrance, scheduled on April 13, has gone up by about 70,000 this year.

Nearly 3.2 lakh students would appear in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission in seven IITs across the country. Last year about 2.5 lakh students had appeared the test.

But this year's drop is quite worrying, admits both CBSE and other educationists. Experts say that s the trend is alarming, and has only increased in the past few years.

In schools also, there has been a drastic drop in the number of students opting for Biology in the senior secondary level.

Students prefer to go for either engineering or commerce since the salaries are wonderful. Medicine on the other hand is a long process and a Master's is a must. Even thereafter, the salaries don't compare with what other professions get.

The lack of interest will, educationists fear, lead to poor quality of health services in the future. ''We need good doctors and if bright students refuse to opt for the stream, it's a worrying scenario,'' adds another educationist.