After twin deaths, NEET back on TN’s political agenda
A political slugfest is underway in Tamil Nadu on NEET after the back-to-back suicides of an NEET aspirant and his father in Chennai. Having led a vociferous attack against the pre-medical entrance test for a few years, the ruling DMK is clearly at odds with reality. Chief Minister M K Stalin firmly stated in his Independence Day address that only if education is transferred to the State List from the Concurrent List can such “cruel exams” be abolished. He has written to the president to grant assent to the state’s NEET Exemption Bill. Opposition party AIADMK, continuing to oppose NEET while being in alliance with the BJP, has shot a political salvo, saying the DMK failed to fulfil its poll promise to scrap it. State BJP president K Annamalai blamed the DMK for misleading students with false promises and said the ruling party has blood on its hands.
The state government has always maintained that the selection process for NEET favours urban students and those who can afford costly coaching classes and ‘paid’ seats in private colleges. Ideologically, DMK opposes entrance exams since they are inherently against the poor and underprivileged. Having an entrance exam for super speciality medical courses or premier institutions such as JIPMER or AIIMS is okay. But today, NEET is the only route available for all MBBS aspirants.
In the case of engineering, for instance, Anna University offers seats for meritorious students with high marks in school. When NITs were carved out of Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs), they stopped giving admission based on marks obtained in class 12 and went en bloc to JEE. Since then, the number of students from rural areas taking admission to NITs has declined. These students are no less intelligent—it is just that they do not have the wherewithal to join coaching classes and are left to compete with students from the privileged class.
Another concern is the decline in doctors practising in rural areas. With the highest doctor-population ratio, Tamil Nadu hopes to see more people from districts join the medical field to maintain that parity. The government should improve teaching standards in schools by upgrading their syllabi and infrastructure. Going forward, DMK must focus on building public conscience through political activism. The NEET Exemption Bill—the collective will of the people of Tamil Nadu, as DMK puts it—is unlikely to receive presidential assent anytime soon.