State plans ordinance for 10% NEET quota for govt students

State plans ordinance for 10% NEET quota for govt students

Quota Will Be A Part Of Existing Reservations

Julie.Mariappan TNN

Chennai:09.06.2020

Tamil Nadu government school students who clear NEET may get 10% horizontal reservation in medical admission from this academic year, highly placed sources told TOI. The AIADMK government may soon promulgate an ordinance on this following recommendations made by Justice P Kalaiyarasan-led commission in its report filed on Monday.

The panel was constituted by the state government last March to analyze the reason for government school students not being able to gain admission to medical colleges after it came under attack from opposition parties over the issue.

Tamil Nadu had 3,350 MBBS seats last year. In 2016, before NEET-based admissions began for MBBS, 34 students from government schools joined medical colleges in the state. In the last three years, after NEET came into effect, only 14 government school students secured admission to medical courses.

“The state government is likely to promulgate an ordinance giving effect to 10% horizontal reservation for students of government schools. It is like sportspersons, children of ex-servicemen and differently-abled getting a special reservation,” said a source. The horizontal reservation is well within the vertical reservation available to SC/ST/OBC/ general categories in education. The committee consulted a wide range of stakeholders before submitting its recommendations to reserve seats for students who studied from ‘Class VI to Class XII’ in government schools.

Panel saw justifiable grounds to provide for quota to students

Sources said the commission comprising secretaries of school education, law, and health and family welfare departments, besides educationists, took note of the cognitive gap of the students.

“In an in-depth empirical study, it was found that 85% of students come from families of daily wagers. Many factors, including environment, parental education, income, location of schools in rural areas, psychological barriers, and non-availability of private coaching centers in rural areas were considered. The panel felt there are justifiable grounds to provide reasonable quota to these students,” said a source. It also took note of the fact that 66% of the candidates who got medical seats last year were repeaters who cracked exams after failing more than once. Data from the directorate of medical education, CBSE and ICSE were used to arrive at the conclusion.

Responding to the news, G R Ravindranath, doctors’ association for social equality general secretary, said: “We welcome quota for government school students in medical admissions as it would protect government schools from shutting down besides helping the poor and downtrodden pursue medicine. The government should now focus on coaching since competitive examinations are going to determine the future of students,” he said.

While the TN government unanimously passed two bills to exempt the state from NEET,theUnion government withheld both bills after two years. A fresh petition was filed in January amid uproar in the state, challenging the amendments made to the Indian Medical Council Act and Dentists Act, making uniform entrance exam across the country mandatory. “After the introduction of NEET, the number of students of government schools getting admission in medical colleges has fallen. The government is determined not to allow such a situation in the coming years,” Palaniswami said while making a suo motu announcement to constitute the committee.