Admissions will now be conducted in accordance with the normalisation formula to remove disparities between the marks awarded to students by different boards conducting the Higher Secondary Certificate examination.

``I think it should not be difficult to complete the admission process so that classes can commence by August 30,'' Aher told Express Newsline:The normalisation formula will ensure that no injustice will be done to students passing the qualifying examination from the Central Board of Secondary Education and such other institutions, he added. The Department of Medical Education will now organise itself to conduct the entrance test for the next academic year. The new Medical and HealthSciences University at Nashik will conduct the CET from the 1999 academic session, the minister added.

Aher said the normalisation formula is followed by the Birla Institute of Technology and had also prominently figured during a meeting he had with noted social worker Govindbhai Shroff.

In order to equate candidates, the formula creates a merit list in linear order. It ascertains the relative placement of a candidate from those who stood first from the board from which the candidate under review has passed.

If the number of candidates from each board is large, statistically the student ranked first from one board will be equated with the top ranker of another board. As such, the top ranker of each board is considered to have obtained 100 per cent marks and the aggregate marks of all other students from that board are normalised with reference to the aggregate marks of the topper in their respective boards. For instance, if the topper secures 94 per cent, his normalised aggregate is assumed to be 100per cent. If another student from the same board has obtained 88 per cent marks, his normalised aggregate will be 88 X 100 divided by 94 = 93.62 per cent.

Aher said the Department of Medical Education has been asked to obtain the highest marks secured by the top rankers of the Delhi-based boards as well in order to implement the normalisation formula. Students and parents were jubilant while receiving the news. Though most students had reluctantly begun studying for the CET they felt they were not given sufficient time to prepare for it.

A graduate from K J Somaiya College of Science and Commerce, Suraj Mitra, who did not get his choice of discipline earlier, is relieved that he will not have to take yet another test. However, he says he is not opposed to the CET per se. Paras Khajanchi of the Vidyarthi Palak Manch, which had appealed against the CET in court, was ecstatic. His son, who secured 95 per cent in the all-important Physics-Chemistry-Biology combination in the HSC exam, now feels he has abetter chance at securing admission. ``One never knows how much he would have got in the CET,'' Khajanchi says.

Students who had scored well in the HSC exam were especially opposed to the CET as the test would have reduced their chances of securing admission. Those who did not score well were therefore disappointed with the test being held in abeyance.