Dozen posers over NEET; Madras HC bench refers case to Chief Justice

By Siva Sekaran  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 10th June 2017 05:07 AM  |  

CHENNAI: A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has raised a dozen queries over the conduct of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses for 2017-18 and its applicability to the students of all types boards.

“The above queries have to be answered by the respondents by June  27. Since all-India ramification regarding medical admissions would be caused, this court feels it appropriate to refer the matter to the Chief Justice for necessary orders,” the Bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and V Parthiban said on Friday.

The bench was passing further interim orders on a PIL from Dr P Ramachandran of Kattumannarkoil praying for a direction to the MCI to give weightage to the marks obtained in the Plus-Two public exams too. When the matter came up before the vacation bench on May 5, the judges had directed the MCI to consider the petitioner’s a plea.

When the matter came up again on Friday, the judges raised as many as 12 questions. They were: Is it possible to determine the calibre or intellect or merit of the students by a single NEET conducted by CBSE, when the students are studying in various systems? When the questions are set by CBSE, will it not be easy for the students who study under the CBSE stream and difficult for the non-CBSE students? Would it not enable the CBSE students who constitute only about 5-10 per cent of the total candidates to grab the maximum number of seats in the medical admission, as the question papers are based on the CBSE syllabus?

Is it not necessary to provide a level-laying field to all the students while conducting NEET by the CBSE, especially when different systems of education are in existence in various States?

Will the exclusion of academic performance in Plus-1 and Plus-2 examination not make the students non-serious about their school studies and concentrate only on preparation for the NEET, if the single NEET without any practical examination is used to determine the merit of the students? Will it not be appropriate to combine the +2 marks and  NEET marks in equal percentile to determine the calibre or merit of the students more accurately than to determine the same based on the single examination alone?

Will it be possible for the respondents to conduct the NEET continuously along with Plus-Two examination so that the unnecessary extra time available for the preparation for NEET putting mental pressure on the students could be avoided? Will the consideration of NEET marks alone for medical admission not make room for mushrooming of coaching centres throughout the nation and push the academic studies to back seat? Why not the respondents prescribe uniform syllabus for Physics, Chemistry,Biology and Maths throughout India to remove the disparity among various systems?

Is it not essential to train the teachers in the new syllabus for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths and teach the students as per the said syllabus? Is the State government not responsible for dilution of standards in the education as it has not taken any steps to revise the syllabus in tune with the times and not making the students ready for the NEET? And why does the State government not appoint well trained teachers in all schools to make ready the students for facing the NEET?