Fee or free, NEET conundrum continues

CHENNAI: While the decision to implement the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) continues to be in a limbo marred by political posturing and indecision, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to continue free medical entrance exam courses for students from State-run schools.

Due to COVID-induced lockdown, NEET coaching had taken a hiatus for 2 years. But it’s all set to resume, thanks to the array of plans drawn by the School Education Department with the help of experts.

A senior official from the department stated that over 400 coaching centres have been identified. A few residential training centres have been also located as per students’ requirements. “Coaching will be in Tamil and English, and students can learn as per their wish,” he added.

Adding that around 28,000 medical aspirants from government and government-aided schools have enrolled for free NEET coaching across the State, he said: “As many as 70 students will be accommodated in each training centre.”

Government’s plan

NEET training will be given for students of both classes 11 and 12 as per their requirements.

“NEET preliminary training has already started in a few centres. Around 20 students from Class 11, and 50 students from Class 12 from government and government-aided schools will be accommodated at each training centre,” he stated. “Final list of students who’ve enrolled will be released soon. In Chennai alone, about 700 students will be given NEET training in about 10 coaching centres.”

Training will be provided on weekends from 9 am to 4 pm so that regular classes for the higher secondary students will not be disrupted. “Syllabus for NEET coaching is already available,” he said. “With the help of experts, it’d be further developed.”

Apart from conducting regular tests as a part of NEET training, experts will also prepare a comprehensive question bank, which would have five previous year’s NEET exam question papers. In addition to e-lectures, updated versions of videos will be uploaded to the official YouTube channel. Students will also be informed about it soon.”

A panel comprising NEET experts will also be constituted to monitor training sessions and suggest improvement in NEET coaching.

USP of private coaching

Quoting a report in 2019-2020 on NEET results of government students in Tamil Nadu, SK Ramesh Babu, a trainer in the city, said that of the nearly 20,000 medical aspirants in government schools, who registered for the government’s free NEET coaching, not a single one was able to secure an MBBS seat.

“Only a few passed. But they could not get medical seats due to low cut-off marks,” he averred.

A government school student, who could not crack NEET after taking free government coaching last year and joined a private training centre this year, claimed that there were lots of differences between both types of training.

“Communication gap between trainer and trainee in the government NEET coaching was the big issue. In the free coaching, most training session was self-learning. During the last couple of years of lockdown, the government tried its level best to upload several hundred videos that would give NEET training to the students. But, unfortunately, it was one-way communication, as students couldn’t get their doubts cleared,” he pointed out.

S Aakash, who secured an MBBS seat after getting NEET training in a private institution, claimed that most questions for NEET exam were prepared from Delhi-based National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) books. “These books could not be accessed by the State board students here,” he added.

He said that in the private training centres if a trainee could not pass the weekly test, he’d be asked to repeat it until he or she clears the test.

“Only then could he proceed to the next session. In some private institutes, students were given practical explanations for better understanding of the topics,” explained Akash.

Ways to improve

S Akila, coordinator of a private NEET coaching centre in the city, said to improve the government NEET training, authorities should launch a common training programme by tying up with leading private firms.

“While preparing the syllabus, officials and experts should also ensure that all topics are explained simply and legibly. Similarly, students should get more interaction time,” she opined.

Akila also suggested that government should ensure that just four months before the NEET exams, all training centres should complete the portions so that students will be enough time for revision. “Students, who get free government NEET training, should be involved in group discussions as a part of the coaching programme. Trainers should also change their teaching methods from conventional to non-conventional,” she stated.