CHENNAI: Out of the 2,993 government school students who are eligible under the 7.5% reservation category, 2,363 (79%) candidates are NEET repeaters and only 630 cleared NEET in their first attempt. It is the same for the remaining government quota seats, as out of the 25,856 eligible candidates, only 8,426 are first-timers, while 17,430 (67%) are repeaters.
This year, 28,849 applications are eligible to participate in medical counselling under the government quota seats in the state this year, 19,793 (69%) candidates are NEET repeaters, who have written the NEET examination more than once.
Academics fear that in the coming future, hardly 10% of students appearing for the test right after Class 12 will be able to grab a medical seat in the state. “As current students have to prepare both for Class 12 and NEET, obviously repeaters will have an edge over them,” said S Selvarajan, a faculty at a NEET coaching centre.
As per Justice AK Rajan committee report, which studied the impact of NEET on medical admissions in the state, and submitted its report in 2021, highlighted that in 2016-17, which was the last year of non-NEET admissions, only 12.47% of the students were repeaters. However, in 2020-21, 71.4% of repeaters got medical seats. On the basis of the committee’s report, Tamil Nadu passed the anti-NEET bill in the Assembly.
Academicians opposing NEET said it only reinforces their claims that the entrance test has commercialized medical education and encouraged a coaching culture. “Year after year, they have to keep trying their luck in the entrance test until they get their tactics right to crack it. It has nothing to do with the intelligence of the students. Without years of coaching, it is almost impossible to clear NEET,” said educationist Prince Gajendra Babu.