Neat solution for NEET

Neat solution for NEET

NEET 2024 paper leak has brought the focus back on the demand to scrap a nationwide single entrance test. But when looking for possible solutions to the current mess, it is important to understand the circumstances under which NEET came into being and how it has fared on its basic mandates:

• To put an end to multiple entrance tests across India
• To bring in merit-based admission
• To tackle capitation fees

Before NEET, there were dozens of entrance exams all over the country. Students had to appear for at least five to six exams and worry about clash of exam dates and travel to distant places for counselling for seat allotment. Every year, numerous cases were filed in high courts and Supreme Court related to these issues.

Along with this, there were reports of frequent scams, especially in the entrance exams conducted by private medical colleges or their associations in each state. In Madhya Pradesh, even the state govt-conducted entrance exam for govt medical colleges was compromised.

Crores being paid for admission into medical colleges were mostly unaccounted money, euphemistically called donation or capitation fee. There was a rising demand to put an end to all such practices and to ensure admission based on ‘merit’.

With a final push from SC and dismissing objections from states, NEET was born. While NEET has made it possible to replace a plethora of exams with a single exam, it has failed to ensure ‘merit’. There is no requirement to pass in each of the subjects students are tested on — physics, chemistry and biology. High scorers have to forego seats in expensive private colleges, which then accommodate poor scorers with deep pockets. Thus, money continues to decide who gets admission to almost half the medical seats in the country. Moreover, instead of scams at state level in a few states, we have scams and leaks that affect students across the whole country.

Case for state-run admission policy | Despite govt-owned medical colleges remaining relatively free of scams in the pre-NEET era, courts repeatedly insisted on judging govt and private colleges the same in the name of fairness. But with 85% of seats in most govt medical colleges being open only to students from the respective states, there was actually no reason why states should not have continued to use Class XII marks of students for admission — as most of them would be from the state educational board.

This would have given states greater flexibility in designing admission policies that suited their needs — as Tamil Nadu did in reserving seats for students from govt schools, thus improving the odds of underprivileged students getting a chance to become doctors. It would also have helped save poorer students from having to spend on coaching for entrance exams, as they could opt out of trying to crack the all-India quota and only concentrate on scoring well in school to get into a college within their state.

For many states, it might make a lot of sense to revert to Class XII board exam results as the basis for admission into state govt medical colleges. Meanwhile, states whose school systems are too uneven in quality, could conduct entrance exams for seats in state medical colleges.

Either way, since it has become clear that a centrally administered exam is as vulnerable as a state-level exam, exam systems need to be strengthened in general. Govt should reduce outsourcing of sensitive functions like setting and printing of question papers, invigilation and correction. This will help ensure that responsibility is easily traced and fixed. It should also treat whistleblowers as people aiding govt in keeping the system honest, instead of proceeding against them as enemies of state.

Fix admission to private medical colleges | Private colleges, whether deemed universities or otherwise, can hardly be left to conduct their own admission tests. They have strong incentives to game the system and state govts have proved totally ineffective in regulating them. Moreover, since their intake is from all over India, there is every reason to club them with the all-India quota and subject them to a centralised entrance test.

In many states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, 50% of seats in private medical colleges are for state govts to fill. Those seats can be filled the same way the state govt fills seats in its own medical colleges. Thus, the case for an all-India exam for about 40%-50% (15% all-India quota + management/NRI quota in private colleges) of MBBS seats remains strong.

There is an urgent need to undo the centralisation of everything, especially in health and education, which are the domain of states. Medical education involves both health and education, but it is a concurrent subject as doctors in any state are allowed to practise anywhere in the country once they clear the final MBBS exam. However, medical education must allow for more local input, with states being allowed to tailor admission policies according to their needs.

If there are underserved areas/communities within a state, the state govt might want to take in more students from those areas/communities. If NMC can make peace with admitting students who score zero in a subject or have ranks below 10 lakh but can pay crores in the name of ‘merit’-based admission, it can surely allow states to give preference to students from rural areas or to govt doctors who have done rural service.

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