The NEET conundrum

National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), since its inception, has been the epicentre of multiple tussles between State and Central agencies, ranging from language, overall NEET structure, age, to State control over admissions. In a similar tussle, the state of Tamil Nadu has unanimously passed two Bills to exempt its students from the NEET entrance examination. These two Bills now require the President’s approval, along with approval from the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Health. While the concern of State legislators seems to be genuine, let us see how the situation is taking shape and how it will affect the students of Tamil Nadu.

The state authorities aim to keep their admission process based on merit and rule of reservation as per the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Admission in Professional Courses Act, 2006. In 2006, the state enacted the aforementioned law to conduct all graduate and postgraduate admissions based on the SSLC exam and the applicant’s performance in PG entrance as well as his/her experience. After last year’s one-year exemption from NEET exam, the Tamil Nadu government now seeks a permanent exemption from the examination. Although this can be deemed as the best move in the short-run, it will have a drastic effect on students in the long run.

To understand the plight of Tamil Nadu, we must bring last year’s NEET results into the picture. Out of all the students who appeared for NEET from the state, only 41% were able to qualify in the examination. This figure is in sharp contrast to figures from neighbouring states, with 72.93% qualifiers from Andhra Pradesh, 71.85% from Karnataka, 77.08% from Telangana and Kerala topping the region with 79.77% qualifiers. Adding to the situation, the state had 276 candidates listed amongst the top three ranks in the SSLC examination in the previous year. The reason for such disproportionate stats can be widely attributed to test-score inflation, also a reason for a high number of centums within the state. However, last year’s figure was significantly short of the erstwhile figure of 710 students within the same list (which included 41 students ranking as first).

Disparity

While these figures explain the unanimous political stance of the State legislators, how it will truly affect the students is the sole matter of concern. In the short run, it will undoubtedly be beneficial and will ensure a high number of admissions within the state. But if a permanent exemption is granted, the educational disparity between the state and rest of the country can be expected to widen. A populist educational policy degrades the quality of education, the magnitude of which can be observed after a certain period of time. Also, medicine is a field that requires high expertise, with strong conceptual backing and good analytical skills. The rote method-based learning will affect the quality of doctors hailing from the state.

Although it provides a higher percentage of admitted candidates, it might result in far-reaching consequences for students belonging to the state.

The biggest challenge that students face at present, is uncertainty due to the bills passed. The situation, irrespective of its concerns, is not favourable for the State legislators even in an event of faceoff between State and Central agency. In 2016, the Chhattisgarh government seeking higher control over the examination process, granted admissions through CGMAT-2016. This gambit entirely bypassed the NEET examination and students were allotted colleges as per the CGMAT criterion. However, the State government’s move was a direct contravention of the orders passed by the Supreme Court and MCI’s subsequent notification. It only resulted in an unfortunate situation for the students as the Supreme Court invalidated all such admissions — a severe outcome of the misadventures of a State body. The petition of students concerned, requesting exclusion was also dismissed by the apex court. Supreme Court’s stand has also been made clear through multiple orders passed in the case of Madhya Pradesh and other states.

The Union Government, on the other hand, is inclined towards rolling out a National Testing Service. Thus, an exemption to Tamil Nadu is highly unlikely by the union ministries. This leaves almost no scope for Tamil Nadu to get an exemption from the interference of any of the two bodies concerned — the Union Government or the Supreme Court. The only result that the entire political mustering will have is that it will cause confusion amongst students, which will affect their results. In the grand scheme of things, it is advisable that students prepare for the NEET exam in order to avoid the ill-fated results of Chhattisgarh.

The writer is Director, Aakash Educational Services.