Chennai: Data submitted by the Tamil Nadu government on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) revealed only 1.6% students have managed to clear the examination without having attended a private coaching centre.
As per official records, only 48 of the total 3,081 students who have secured a seat in one of the 23 government medical colleges did not take private coaching.
The data also shows that many of those who cleared NEET could not do it in a single attempt. As many as 2,041 students secured seats in their second or third bid, while only 1,040 students cleared the test when they appeared for the first time.
As far as private medical colleges are concerned, 52 aspirants cleared NEET without any coaching as against 1,650 students who underwent tuitions to crack the exam. Data further revealed 588 aspirants cleared the test in the first attempt whereas 1,062 students cleared it after multiple attempts
On Monday, the Madras High Court had observed that the poor cannot afford to attend private coaching classes for NEET as the expenses go up to Rs 5 lakh. Hence, students belonging to poor sections of society were at a disadvantage, it said.
In its interim order, the court said aspirants from rural districts also suffer due to lack of facilities and the central government should take note of it.
Further, it observed that those appearing for Class XII board exams have to prepare for NEET along with their regular studies, while those who are attempting for the second or third time have all the time to prepare for the entrance examination. It urged the Centre to take note of the fact that unequals are been treated equally in this case.
The court, while hearing a petition on a NEET impersonation case, said that while several UPA schemes were overturned by the Centre, NEET was not reconsidered.
"Why can't the Centre cancel NEET like other systems implemented by the Congress-DMK regime? NEET discriminates against the poor," the court observed, adding that NEET was introduced to stop flow of money in medical admissions.
The case has been adjourned to November 7 and the bench has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to respond on whether it has received complaints of NEET impersonation.
Meanwhile, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin said in a tweet, “Whenever we raised an apprehension that NEET is destroying medical education dreams of poor people, Central Government tried to fix ulterior motives to it. But now, the Madras High Court has seconded it. At least now, the State and the Central Government should take the social justice path.”
The NEET controversy surfaced in September after the Dean of Government Medical College in Theni received two emails stating that one Udit Surya, who was in his first year of the course, had failed to clear NEET twice before succeeding in the third attempt when he appeared for it in Mumbai. Another mail was sent two days later claiming the student pursuing the course was not the same person who had appeared for the test.
An internal inquiry conducted by the college authorities found a mismatch in the photographs of the NEET identity card and the student’s general identity card and a case was registered by Theni police.
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