Have students from Tamil medium schools been discriminated against in Tamil Nadu ever since NEET has been implemented? That's what the High-Level Committee headed by Justice AK Rajan which has studied the impact of NEET on medical admissions in the state said in its report.
The data shows that in both Government and Self-Financed Colleges, a higher number of English medium students secured admissions as compared to the Tamil medium students in the post-NEET era. "Also, the trend shows a drastic change in admissions between the pre-NEET and post-NEET periods," said the report.
The report compares the average pre-NEET and the latest numbers from 2020-21 to show that there has been a drastic drop when it comes to students allotted seats in government colleges. "While the English medium students maintained an average of 56.02 per cent in the pre-NEET and rose to 69.53 per cent in 2020-21 in the post-NEET period, the Tamil medium students were at 14.44 per cent on an average in pre-NEET times and ended up at only 1.7 per cent in 2020-21. Similarly, in the Self-Financed colleges, the English medium group raised its share from the mean score of 26.15 per cent in the pre-NEET to 28.34 per cent in 2020-21, and the share of the Tamil medium students fell from the pre-NEET average of 3.39 per cent to 0.47 per cent in 2020-21," the report pointed out. This shows that Tamil medium students were the worst affected and lost almost nine times their share since NEET was implemented.
The report was made public on September 20. The 165-page report, which was submitted on July 14 criticises NEET and seeks its immediate ban in Tamil Nadu. The report also said that NEET is against disadvantaged groups and has only catered to the affluent who can take on the burden of studying and preparing for an extra exam, in addition to the boards. But they don't stop here. It stated that not only are the students from affluent backgrounds getting an upper hand, but they also are not even serving in the state after they graduate. They said that NEET festers inequality as it favours the rich and the more privileged class of society, who are able to afford special coaching apart from pursuing Class XII. It virtually barricades the underprivileged social groups from medical and dental education.
Dr G R Ravindranath, General Secretary, Doctors' Association for Social Equality and a member of the committee said that NEET is totally against the students from Tamil Nadu and that the centre should work along with the state to ban it completely. "The centre has to agree to this demand and must amend its NMC bill to facilitate the ban of NEET in Tamil Nadu. Additionally, there must be a provision for states that are against the examination to raise their voice," he said.
