‘Ask for seats to be increased’

The death of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar from Karnataka, who was pursuing his medical education in Ukraine and killed due to Russian shelling, has led to a serious debate about the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

Some have gone ahead and asked for NEET to be scrapped. But this will not stop students from going to countries like Ukraine, Russia or China to pursue medicine, where the costs of medical education are lower.

It is not just a question of money.

Prior to 2016, Karnataka filled medical seats through the Common Entrance Test (CET), a process that started in 1984. Before that, seats were allotted based on marks secured in II PUC.

NEET was introduced to simplify the examination process. Earlier, students had to appear for at least 10 entrance tests conducted by various states and institutions. Karnataka alone had over five different entrance examinations and there was little accountability at the institutional level.

With NEET, the influence of ‘agents’ in the seat allotment process has reduced.

“Those saying that poor students are not getting seats due to NEET must understand that the situation in the state was much worse before. It was just the rich who were able to get admissions at private medical colleges. Now even for management quota, one must get through NEET,” said a principal of a government medical college.

“With the introduction of NEET, merit has been given importance. Scrapping it will open avenues for unethical practices and increase stress on students,” he added.

Dr K S Ravindranath, former vice-chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), feels that instead of demanding the scrapping of NEET, one should ask for an increase in the number of government medical colleges and government quota seats.

Another senior bureaucrat, who is also a doctor who graduated from a government college in Karnataka said, “NEET is competitive and you cannot compromise with the quality. There will be an urban bias when it comes to facilities. But without NEET, you have private colleges trying to sell seats.”

As explained by the authorities at Karnataka Examinations Authority, with the increase in the number of seats during the past few years, admissions are up as well.

The fee for non-resident Indian and management quota seats is high as it is fixed by the respective college managements. “The government could also reduce fees for government quota seats at private colleges under the higher fees category, which is Rs 9 lakh now,” said an expert.

The state and the central governments have failed to regulate fees for medical courses at private medical colleges. With the introduction of NEET, the government should have established control over the fee structure for private quota seats and seats available at deemed to be and private medical universities.

“It is not a big thing for the government to control the fee structure. A majority of the private medical colleges are run by politicians and the government should pass a legislation over fees and should give free hand to the fee regulatory committee,” says a former vice-chancellor of RGUHS.

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