CHENNAI: The number of students from government and aided schools who secured more than 300 marks in NEET has increased three-fold this year. At least 90 students have scored over 300, against 32 last year.
“Many of these students have a strong chance of securing a medical seat. All of them might be eligible if the reservation for government school students is implemented,” a senior official from the School Education Department said. However, only 1,633 students from government and aided schools, whom the State coached for free, have cleared the test in their first attempt as against 2,557 last year. According to data available with the Department, four students have scored over 500 marks, 15 have scored in the 400-500 range and 71, in the 300-400 range.
NEET: Only 4 TN students scored above 400 marks
A total of 6,692 students appeared for the exam this year, though over 8,000 had applied, the official said. The overall qualification rate in both type of schools is 24.4 per cent – 21 per cent in government schools and 28.2 per cent in aided schools. The government had announced that 17,630 candidates from government and aided schools had taken the test last year.
This indicates a significant drop in the number of students who wrote the test this year. “Last year government school teachers encouraged everybody interested in the coaching to apply for the exam. This year, we encouraged only students who showed consistent interest to register,” said an official. In 2019, no student scored over 500 in the test. Only four students scored over 400 and 28 between 300 and 400.