People seem to have forgotten how students qualified for admission to undergraduate medical and dental programmes before the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test came into existence. Students had to appear for separate entrance tests conducted by states and universities. As commentators have pointed out, students had to travel to several states and cities to appear for these exams, carrying their documents, enduring the rough conditions on trains and local accommodation, all of which cost them plenty. Private medical colleges, particularly in the southern states, increasingly resorted to ‘fixing’ admissions so that the better off sections benefited. When NEET came into existence, these states were the most vociferous in opposing it. And it is exactly this lobby that would be most pleased if the NEET system ceased to exist.
Also, to be fair, those in the know also assert that the NTA, on discovering that there had been paper leaks, immediately admitted the failure, took action and speedily conducted a retest, whose results have now been declared. Is this good or bad functioning? It must be noted that cheating in exams is an age-old problem and a constant struggle is required to overcome the deficiencies. People come up with new tricks to bypass the system on a regular basis. There would be no organised leaks if there was no market for the papers, which consists of none other than the students and their parents.
Under the circumstances, how fair is it to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan? Those demanding this should explain how conducting an agitation in support of his removal will improve the system? There are those who want NEET, itself, to be cancelled. That is basically asking for the earlier situation to return and making students go through the same old suffering. Blaming the retest for the suicides of twenty candidates focuses on the wrong aspect of the phenomenon. Why is there so much pressure on youngsters to succeed that it becomes a life and death issue? Is not the students’ immediate environment more responsible for this mental state?
The great irony is that all this is happening when Parliament is in session. Political parties are expressing their angst in every possible way on the back of the ‘CJP’ protest rather than debating the issue in the Lok and Rajya Sabhas. Those who talk about defending the constitution and democracy are rejecting the opportunity to use this highest platform to address the issue. What may be the reason for this except the knowledge that they don’t have much of a case!
