What is the issue?
- A data from Tamil Nadu government on NEET pass percentages recently became available through the Madras High Court.
- While the NEET puts the poor at a disadvantage, the focus must be on quality of school education.
What are the highlight findings?
- A total of 3,081 candidates got admitted in MBBS course in 23 government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu in 2019.
- As many as 1,040 of those candidates cleared NEET in the first attempt.
- A majority of 2,041 cleared it either in the second or third attempt.
- Of the total, only 48 candidates had not attended any coaching centre.
- Only 1.6 % of all students who joined the government medical colleges had managed to get a seat without coaching.
- Significantly, even in private medical colleges, only a marginally higher percentage (3.2) had got through without coaching classes.
- A significant percentage of students in both government (66.2) and private colleges (64.4) had to take multiple attempts at NEET to get a seat.
What does the data imply?
- The data shows a clear link between coaching classes and securing a medical seat.
- As observed by the Court, the data on medical admissions proves NEET to be anti-poor.
- The costs of coaching classes are huge, running into lakhs of rupees.
- It clearly puts medical education out of the reach of the poorer sections as well as students from rural areas.
What should the response be?
- With the poor being at disadvantageous position, there are calls to cancel the NEET.
- The fundamental question, however, is the quality of education being imparted to students, in urban and rural areas.
- Ensuring that quality education is imparted at schools by well-trained teachers would obviate the need for coaching outside of classes.
- The need now is for the States to put in place a series of steps that would make learning meaningful, and fun for children.
- In the interim, it should provide free NEET coaching classes to help disadvantaged students make that leap.
Source: The Hindu
