The demands for postponing the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET UG) are increasing. Various sections of students, activists and other concerned people have even written to the relevant government authorities asking them to intervene in the matter and consider the postponement. On Saturday, June 18, about one million tweets were seen to be circulating on Twitter regarding this issue. #JUSTICEforNEETUG has been trending on the platform for the last three days.
Speaking about the issue, a student from Odisha, who prefers to remain anonymous, informed, “We have submitted representations to the National Testing Agency (NTA, the body which conducts the NEET exams), through emails and letters by students. These are being given because of the concern around the scheduled date of the NEET UG exam. A student has also personally met the Union Education Minister and letters have been submitted to the Ministry.”
Meeting the Education Minister
The student from Odisha, Ashutosh Mishra, who had the meeting with the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, said, “All our problems were put forth to the Ministry of Education. I submitted a memorandum and explained all our points to the Minister. He would read these submissions and would respond soon. I am actually sure that he had read them, because NTA has responded today (June 20).”
NTA has confirmed and accepted that it has received the representations from students, but also stated that there has been no change in the exam schedule yet, in reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query. The NEET-UG exam is scheduled to be held on July 17, and it is the students' demand, and the demand of other concerned people, that it should be deferred by about 40 days.
Explaining the reason behind their demand, Ashutosh said, “Our exams (the NEET-UG exam 2021) were completed by September 12. The results were announced in November and the counselling started in February 2022. It went on till May for many states. The total duration of the counselling process was very long. It ought to have gotten over in February itself. But due to the 10% OBC reservation issue going on in the Supreme Court, the counselling was delayed by almost 40 days than last year. Usually, students get five to six months to prepare for the next exam. The forms are announced around December and the exam is held in June-July. This was the pre-COVID scenario. Last year, due to COVID, the exams were postponed to September. But even then, the students got about five months between the announcement and conduction of the next exam. This year, however, the gap has been reduced to only three months because of the delay in counselling. And three months is not sufficient to cover the syllabus”.
“There are 98 chapters to study. And only studying won’t help. We also need to revise the chapters thoroughly. Also, NEET is conducted only once every year, so there is the pressure to crack it in one go. People are facing high anxiety. We have to study 12-14 hours a day to cover the syllabus, and even then it cannot be entirely covered. So, 40 days is the least we can ask for,” he added.
“Those who just completed Class XII and are appearing for the exam for the first time, are facing other problems. CBSE had deleted seven to eight important chapters from their Class XII syllabus to reduce the burden. But these chapters carry a weightage of about 60 marks in the NEET exam. So, these students have to study these chapters on their own, and it takes about two weeks to complete them. The Class XII Board exams concluded on June 15, and they just have a month to prepare for NEET as it is. And if the time to study for these deleted chapters is taken into account, these students get only 15 days to study for the NEET exam. And they have to revise the Class XI syllabus as well,” Ashutosh explained.
He also said, “There is a clash in the exam dates as well. Many students are also applying for other exams like JEE, CUET and EAMCET. JEE Mains is being held on July 21, EAMCET is being conducted on July 15, 16 and 18, and CUET is scheduled for the second week of July. So there is no time to study for any of these properly. A student will be forced to choose what exam he/she has to sit for, just because the government has scheduled a faulty date for the NEET exam. And this is not fair. One cannot expect a teen of 17-18 years to decide which path he has to take in life and what exam he will appear for because of overlapping dates.”
“The batches for these exams are starting around September-October, as it has been announced. But NMC (The National Medical Commission) has issued a notification that the batch for the NEET-UG 2022 students cannot start before February 2023. So, there is no harm in deferring the exams by a month or so. Even if the exam is held in July and counselling is finished in August, students just have to sit at home for five months before the academic session begins. The exam was scheduled in July to bring the academic calendar to normalcy. But since it has already been delayed and the next batch will start in February, the students can be given more time to prepare properly,” he added.
No logic
Aman Kadyan, another NEET-UG aspirant, said, “There is no logic in NMC’s decision of conducting the exam in July and then making the students wait for five months till the classes begin next year. Everyone is under pressure. We are facing difficulty in studying. There is so little time to cover the syllabus, and other exam dates are clashing. Some have even applied for the BSc Nursing exam and NEET is clashing with that too. The JEE aspirants have to additionally prepare for Math. There is so much uncertainty over whether the exam will be postponed or not that it has been difficult to focus on studies and prepare accordingly. There are so many chapters to revise that even when I have revised everything, I can only retain 50% of it. So, there is a lot of anxiety. There have been many suicide cases because of NEET in the past. Additionally, students face a lot of pressure from their family and peers to crack the exam as the number of attempts are limited.”
Activist lawyer Anubha Sahai who has sent a written representation regarding this issue to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) today, on June 20, said, “It is a serious issue. If the exams are conducted in July, the counselling will be completed maximum by December. Still, students will be doing nothing for about three months. The 2021 batch is set to begin around December. The two batches cannot even run simultaneously. Last year, the exam was shifted to September. So, even if they shift the exam for a month or two this year, the students will get enough time to study. Their demand is genuine.”
“I met with the NTA officials today. And students have also sent letters and emails to the PMO, the Ministry of Education, the Education Minister and NTA. There has been no response from them till now. The PMO generally does respond within a few days, and they forward the complaints to the respective ministries. So, I am looking out for it,” she added. Anubha has also sent a separate letter addressed to the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter.
“Student activists and students have sent the representations. Ashutosh Mishra even personally met the Minister of Education when he was at his Home Office on a visit to Bhubaneswar. But there has been no response yet,” Aman said. Students from AIJNSA (All India JEE NEET Student’s Association) have sent the representations, informed Ashutosh. AIJNSA President Himanshu Borah said, “I have myself sent one. Today, I will also submit a reminder representation to NTA”.
Pratik Raj, who had accompanied teacher-activist Sukhpal Singh Toor, belonging to the All India Student’s Union (AISU) to the Ministry of Education said, “I went along with sir and submitted two letters regarding this issue to the HRD Ministry. The letters were submitted within a gap of two to three days.”
“The first letter was given on June 10 and the next was on June 13,” added Ashutosh.
“The Indian government has been very helpful. They reduced the syllabus for Class XII students, JEE was postponed and they pushed NEET last year till September. This year, they have a period of six months till the next batch starts, which is roughly 180 days. All we are asking is 40 days out of it. Pradhan sir, Ramesh Pokhriyal sir (former Education Minister) – they have all been helpful and attentive in the past. We have to just wait and watch when the government is going to come out. The issue is still trending on Twitter and it is a burning issue,” Ashutosh said.
