The demand by the Tamil Nadu Government and major political parties to the Centre that the State be exempted from the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to MBBS and BDS courses is with ulterior motives, opine educational and senior medical doctors.
The State Assembly has sent unanimously adopted resolutions asking the Centre to exempt the Tamil Nadu students from NEET as the State has its own secondary and higher secondary syllabus different from that of the CBSE.
CM Edappady Palaniswamy and Opposition leader MK Stalin are unanimous in their view that Tamil Nadu students would be at a disadvantage when they face their counterparts from other States which follow CBSE syllabus.
The State administration enacted a legislation reserving 85 per cent of the MBBS and BDS courses exclusively for State board students and would offer only 15 per cent to the NEET quota. Tamil Nadu has 4,350 MBBS seats in 33 medical colleges (23 Government and 10 self-finance colleges).
The recently announced results of the NEET 2017 demolish their claims. Out of the 83, 859 candidates from Tamil Nadu who appeared for the NEET, 32, 570 qualified for admission to the MBBS. This means that 38.84 per cent students from the State have qualified for the MBBS course. “This is a reasonably good pass per cent when compared to the national average,” JSN Murthy, former vice chancellor, Sri Ramachandra University, said.
Former directors of medical education too were unanimous in their opinion that NEET is the ideal method to select students for the MBBs and BDS courses.
He pointed out that about 6 lakh students out of the 1.1 million students who appeared for the all India NEET 2017 qualified for admission to MBBS courses. “This is almost 50 per cent of the total number of candidates. Students from Tamil Nadu constitute 38.84 per cent and this is a commendable figure. We will see more Tamil Nadu students getting qualified in the subsequent NEETs,” said Murthy.
Former directors of medical education too were unanimous in their opinion that NEET is the ideal method to select students fro the MBBs and BDS courses. Prof BM Hegde, former vice chancellor, Manipal University and the leading medical educationist in the country described the NEET as the best available system at the moment to select the right candidate for the right course.
Admission to MBBS and BDS courses in Tamil Nadu were hitherto based on the marks scored in the Plus Two final examination and was the prerogative of the state Government. Thangam Thennarsu and Ponmudi, DMK legislators accused in the assembly that that Centre was infringing on the rights of Tamil Nadu.
But veteran doctors like Dr T Kamaraj are of the view that the Tamil Nadu government should take steps to train the students for the CBSE stream instead of sticking to the state board syllabus. “Admission process in medical colleges is not transparent and student-friendly. Though terms like capitation fee are out, the practice of selling MBBS seats continue in another form,” said Dr Kamaraj.