Regional political parties in Tamil Nadu, especially the AIADMK and the DMK, stand isolated in their demand for postponing/cancelling the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to the undergraduate courses in medicine and dental sciences.
A day after the Minister of health Dr Vijayabaskar wrote to Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan seeking cancellation of the NEET this year and allow admission based on Class 12 marks have drawn flak from parents, students and educationists alike.
“Whom are they trying to cheat? It is to favour the management of the medical and dental colleges that they are asking the Centre to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET. The Dravidian political parties have a hidden agenda because most of these medical colleges in the State are owned either by leaders of the AIADMK or the DMK,” said a parent who did not want his name to be quoted for security reasons.
The only factor which stands out in this demand for scrapping the NEET and exempt the State is the Government’s failure to upgrade the quality of high school education in the State, said Dr Y R Johnson, former principal of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and a lead educationist in the State.
Tamil Nadu Government had passed a unanimous resolution in the State Assembly seeking exemption from NEET as the CBSE syllabus of high standard than that of the State Board Education. “There was nothing which prevented them upgrading the quality of the education. Now it is not fair to blame the NEET,” said Dr Johnson. Dr A Vinod, south zone head, Siksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, pointed out that NEET was the best and easiest mode of screening test for admission to MBBS/BDS courses, “It is students friendly because there are no multiplicity of tests. It is those people with ulterior motives who are campaigning against the eligibility test,” said Vinod.
He pointed out that it was the UPA regime led by the Congress which took the issue up to the Supreme Court for introducing the NEET. That government survived because of the DMK’s support. Now, the same DMK opposing the NEET shows that the party has some hidden agenda,” said Vinod.
Dr C V Krishnaswamy, veteran medical scientist, said that NEET was the best screening available under the present condition. One cannot go back to the Plus 12 days as Tamil Nadu has seen many malpractices under the admission procedure for medical colleges,” said Dr Krishnaswamy.