NEET is mostly driven by coaching centres; affordability is the issue. It is rare to find students from underprivileged, poor, rural, and lower caste backgrounds, says Manuraj S
Kimaya Boralkar
Chennai: Every year around 2.33 million students appear for National eligibility entrance test (NEET) and a substantial portion of students belong to Tamil Nadu. In Chennai approximately 24,000 students are preparing for the NEET exam. Chennai is like a hub for several coaching institutes and a large number of medical students.
Tamil Nadu has a history of opposing central exams with the state always advocating for local entrance exams for medical colleges, recently the Tamil Nadu government passed Tamilnadu admission to undergraduate medical degree course bill 2021.but Tamilnadu governor R.N Ravi has refused it.
According to A.K. Rajan committee appointed by Tamilnadu government in 2021 to examine the impact of NEET on medical admission Says it harms the rights and interest of poor and disadvantaged students who want to become doctors.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ruling party in tamilnadu opposes NEET consistently in the state because NEET seems more favourable for students from urban areas as compared to rural students or economically privileged backgrounds who have access to coaching centers.
“There are a lot of students who come here every day to learn, from seven in the morning to nine at night. I used to see them. I have two daughters. I also want to see my girls become doctors and engineers. They have that much capability, but I have heard that admission in these coaching programs costs lakhs of rupees, which I can not afford. Ten years ago, my husband left me. I work as a housekeeper at Allen Institutes,” 39 year-old Kavita said.
Students who are coming from economically privileged backgrounds seem part of this race. They want good medical colleges so after 10th class they start extra coaching classes for preparation of NEET. 11th standard Dhaneesh said that “My coaching fees are 1,20,000 If I want to improve myself and compete at national level. I think these entrance exams are most important, states exams are so easy I prepared for my state board exam just before 1 month and I got 84% so I do not think 12th board exams are criteria to get admission”.
Language is also another reason. The Tamilnadu government is constantly encouraged for education in Tamil languages. The mode of NEET exam conducted by the central government is in Hindi and English language. So, it is the biggest barrier of this exam “My daughter wanted to become doctor but I can’t afford fees for coaching and she studied in state board till 12th.now she is studying Nursing if I had money, I would also have seen my daughter as a doctor.” said watchman at Aakash institute
According to the coaching institutes in Chennai, the number of students is growing annually and they noted that most students enrolling had parents who are either Doctors, engineers, or IT professionals.
“Students coming from poor backgrounds had trouble on this test since they were coming from state boards. They used the Tamil language for their primary studies. Their communication abilities are poor. There should be a national level competition because we need to keep our students up to date. Why set limits when they can participate at the national level? Eliminating NEET would be like setting limits for our students. It is such a limited perspective” Said Mamata, professor of Allen institute, Chennai.
Students from other state also enroll for medical admission in tamilnadu. 15% seats are allocated under all india quota (AIQ) in government Medical college “Students from underdeveloped states like Uttar pradesh and Bihar travel to Tamilnadu for medical education, but these students return home and start practicing in their own state which would affect the TN state’s healthcare system”.said Mani Madhan, an IIT Madras research scholar
This is a competition of students who studied in CBSE schools for 12 years, which is extremely unfair with those who studied in state board syllabus. “Underprivileged students do not benefit from NEET since they are unable to pay for coaching fees. NEET is mostly driven by coaching centers affordability is the issue. It is rare to find students from underprivileged, poor, rural, and lower caste backgrounds. The NEET exam is a systemically discriminatory exam. We found that it is against the ethos of social justice.” said Manuraj S. spokesperson DMK.
