Guwahati, Sept 30: Fifty medical aspirants from four Assam districts will be selected for fully funded residential NEET coaching under a new initiative, with the selection test scheduled for October 11. Announcing the initiative on Tuesday, Health Minister Ashok Singhal said it would cover aspirants from Sonitpur, Darrang, Biswanath and Udalguri districts.

“We are going to conduct an entrance test providing 100% free residential NEET coaching to Class 12 students and students who could not secure seats after NEET on October 11. The test will begin at 11 am with five examination centres set up across the four districts,” Singhal said.

The centres will be located at LOKD College in Dhekiajuli, Darrang College in Tezpur, Mangaldai College in Mangaldai, Biswanath College in Biswanath Chariali and Udalguri College in Udalguri. More than 1,000 aspirants are expected to appear for the entrance test across the five centres, from which 50 students will be selected for the coaching programme, Singhal said.

He said Sai Vikash Foundation would conduct the test and oversee the entire entrance examination process. “The initiative is being undertaken on an initial basis and would be continued if it yields positive results,” he said.

Asked whether the initiative was intended to compete with a similar programme by Badruddin Ajmal, Singhal said its objective was to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged students. “It is not to compete with anyone but to attempt at providing good education to underprivileged students.

If starting the initiative serves as a competition, that’s fine with me,” he said. The minister said the initiative would allow aspiring medical students to prepare for NEET without the financial burden associated with residential coaching.

Singhal said the government would also explore expanding the initiative to other parts of Assam in the future. The initiative comes against the backdrop of nationwide outrage over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, which led to the cancellation of the May 3 examination, a CBI probe and a nationwide re-test on June 21.

More than 20 lakh candidates had appeared for the examination. The controversy triggered weeks of student protests, sit-ins and a hunger strike, with protesters demanding accountability over the examination and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on July 25.

The NEET crisis also renewed attention on the intense pressure faced by medical aspirants, particularly after reports of multiple student suicides following the paper leak, cancellation and re-test.