Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Friday protested to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the nationwide common entrance exam for Dental Council of India (DCI) courses and urged that the state be exempted from the new system.

In a letter to the prime minister, the text of which was released to the media here, Jayalalithaa said: "I request that Tamil Nadu may be exempted from the test and allowed to continue with its existing system for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate dental seats."

Referring to the gazette notification of DCI regarding introduction of National Eligibility Entrance Test for both Bacherlor of Dental Science (BDS) and Master of Dental Science (MDS) course, Jayalalithaa expressed her strong objection to the introduction of eligibility tests.

She said the Tamil Nadu government has abolished the entrance exams for professional courses from 2007-08 after detailed examination by an expert committee which found that such exams put rural and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds at a disadvantage.

Such entrance examinations result in the growth of expensive coaching centres which charge high fees which the poorer students cannot afford, she added.

"The need for such coaching classes will be specifically felt in the case of a national level examination as the students who pass the 12th standard based on our state syllabi will not face a level playing field as the topics covered for the entrance exam are likely to be based on the NCERT/CBSE (National Council of Educational Research and Training/Central Board of Secondaryl Eduction) curriculum and syllabi," Jayalalithaa added.

Citing the reservation policy of the state government where 69 percent of the seats are reserved for backward/most backward/scheduled castes and tribes, Jayalalithaa contended that the common entrance exam wuld create confusion and litigation. IANS