By Siva Wright
At last, the Court has ruled out that the medical admissions should be solely based on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or simply NEET. And the admission processes too have started. But, it took about 3 months of the mental chaos of students. The center made it clear that the NEET is compulsory for all states from the last academic year. But, the Tamil Nadu government has managed to get an exemption for the last year. Though it got a year to prepare the students to prepare the students both mentally and academically, it didn’t do so.
It is agreed that it is impossible to change the syllabus in a year. Still, it could have prepared them through coaching classes at least. But no such measure has been taken. And when the medical admission process kick-started this year, the state government started confusing the students, again. First, it said the NEET exam wouldn’t even be conducted. Then, when it was conducted, it said we would still get an exemption, like last year. But, when both the center and the court turned down the request, the state government made some dramatic attempt by introducing an 85% quota for the students of the state board education system. When that too failed, a political game started between the state and the center. For various know purposes, the center started supporting the state’s requests and a bill was passed to give Tamil Nadu an exemption for another year from NEET. As this affected those who have worked hard to pass the NEET, they started protesting.
After a few days of the conflict, the Court has made clear there would be no exceptional exemptions to just one state. Now, let’s go the question of the necessity of NEET. Without any prejudice, it can be said that NEET is a necessity. Yes, the state government’s argument that the students from poor background will not be able to afford the coaching classes is true. But, the government itself can provide such classes to such students for free. If it upgraded its decades’ old syllabus, that too will be unnecessary. Till it does that, the least it can do is to provide free coaching classes to the deserving students instead of blaming a necessity. The state shouldn’t sensationalise the case of the students. It is already evident that many of the so called professional including doctors are actually incompetent. Even lives are lost due to this. Therefore it is vital that only those who have actual knowledge, not just dreams, to get the jobs. You can’t just kill people for your dreams. If you aren’t qualified enough for your dream, qualify yourself or kill your dream. It is better than killing people with your incompetence in your profession.
As harsh it might sound, it is the truth. This kind of entrance exams, though can’t completely stop these kinds of people from getting into the jobs, at least lowers the numbers. And this system should be extended to all higher studies such as engineering and even arts. Only those who have the knowledge should be given the opportunity. Dreams don’t qualify people. Knowledge does. This being said, a rather shameful thing has been done in the NEET i.e. setting different question papers for each state which is juxtaposed to the term “National” in the name of the exam. No reason will justify this and this grave mistake should be condemned and should never be repeated again. The NEET is a necessity and this kind of national level exams should be extended to all higher studies. But, again, the process should be just.
About the Author: Siva Wright is a literature student and an aspiring writer. He likes to experiment with different storytelling methods. He has contributed a couple flash fictions and articles to International Journal of English Language, Literature in Humanities(IJELLH). Spillwords (An international e-publisher) is currently publishing one of his series.