'How long would it take to abolish NEET'
Tamil Nadu is the pioneering state in launching revolutionary schemes like the breakfast scheme which was replicated by the Union government five decades later, he said.
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CHENNAI: The Centre could ultimately agree to the Tamil Nadu government’s demand on the abolition of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Examination (NEET), but the worrying factor is how long it would take, said former Vice Chancellor of Indian Maritime University K Ashok Vardhan Shetty, at an event organized on the topic.
Tamil Nadu is the pioneering state in launching revolutionary schemes like the breakfast scheme which was replicated by the Union government five decades later, he said.
“Similarly, the Union Government has followed many of TN's schemes. It would happen to NEET too, but the cause of concern is how long would the Centre take to agree to TN's demands on dropping NEET,” he said while addressing a gathering at a seminar titled “NEET: An Academic Autocracy” that was organised by Muthal Mozhi, an organisation of Annamalai University Engineers (Alumni) in association with All India Save Education Committee on Monday.
He appealed to the stakeholders to take necessary measures to narrow down this timeframe to minimise the damage done to medical education.
Pointing at the adverse impact of competitive exams on the student community, he emphasised the Central and state governments to focus on the stress caused to the mental health of the students preparing for exams such as NEET. He also demanded the Centre to ban coaching institutes.
Calling the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET, a ‘disaster’, Shetty said the agency is a weak body that was established to fail from its inception. “The recent NEET-related scams are the tip of an iceberg. There are many more such scams yet to surface,” he claimed.
Professor L Jawahar Nesan, a member of the high-level committee appointed to study the impact of NEET on medical admissions in TN, said there is a need to do away with such entrance exams. “It is unethical and unconstitutional. No progressive country follows eligibility examination,” he said and appealed to representatives from Rajasthan and Punjab to take forward the message to do away with NEET. The test is not validated academically nor based on an achievement test, added. “It is against democratic plurality and dents opportunities to students from oppressed and marginalised sections of the society,” the academician said.
Congress MP S Sasikanth Senthil and DMK MLA Dr N Ezhilan also addressed the gathering.