TIRUCHY: With just a few weeks for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) to be held for admission to MBBS and BDS courses, aspirants with Tamil as the medium of study are in an uncomfortable situation. As their counterparts who have English both as the medium of study and examination prepare with adequate study material, these students are dependent upon private coaching centres for translated material to study from.
With the NEET (UG) scheduled for May 7, the number of coaching centres has shot up in the city. However, private training institutes Express interacted with said NEET study material is not available in Tamil though months have passed since the announcement of the exam, adding another hurdle for students from rural areas who wish to become medical practitioners.
Staff of a private coaching centre said approximately 40 per cent of their students are from Tamil-medium schools in villages near towns like Pattukottai and Vedaranyam.
“We have about 40 students from Tamil-medium schools who study using the sheets we prepare daily by translating English material. The problem is that many of these students didn’t expect NEET to be introduced in 2017,” said a tutor at private coaching centre in Thillai Nagar. A few of these centres here are said to be providing coaching for Tamil-medium students in separate batches.
“I was told that NEET study material in Tamil would be available only after three years. So I’m preparing for the exam in both English and Tamil. Our tutors give us translated material, but if books are readily available in Tamil, we would be much more confident,” said A Kabilan, a Tamil-medium student. “Since study material and question banks in Tamil are not easy to come by, these students don’t get an equal opportunity,” said educationist Prince Gajendra Babu.