At present, admissions to various AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) courses are conducted through a common entrance test. The minimum educational qualification to appear for these tests is having done your ’10+2′ with Physics, Chemistry and Biology. But the syllabus of entrance exam is not relevant to AYUSH courses.
Most of the candidates appearing for the entrance exam are people who aimed for MBBS courses but didn’t get through. They then join one of the AYUSH courses (on the basis of their ranking in entrance exam) with a total lack of interest. Many of them don’t even know the curriculum of AYUSH courses prior to joining the course. The majority of such candidates, apathetic towards AYUSH, resort to allopathic treatment (a cross-pathy practice) after graduating. Moreover, it is the wastage of money spent by government on the apathetic students in government- or government-aided AYUSH colleges. The defective admission process for AYUSH courses is itself a main cause of decline of AYUSH practices in India.
There is a need to make candidates aware of the curriculum beforehand. Conducting AYUSH syllabus based eligibility test will help filter out uninterested candidates. There should be a separate eligibility test for each AYUSH course, to be conducted along with the entrance exams. This eligibility test will comprise the basic principles of the respective AYUSH disciplines. It will be a qualifying paper requiring a minimum score of 33%. While marks obtained in the eligibility test will not be considered for the merit list, only candidates who have secured this minimum will be considered for the entrance test.
There are three major benefits of the eligibility test. First, candidates will be aware of the curriculum prior to joining the course and will be able to opt for the AYUSH course of their choice. Second, it will stop the wastage of money spent by government on the apathetic students. And third, this initiative will be helpful to strengthen and take AYUSH courses forward.