Sunday, August 4, 2019

NEET coaching: Govt to hold screening test, weekly exams

TNN | Aug 4, 2019, 04.17 AM IST

CHENNAI: After drawing a blank in medical admissions, the school education department has prepared a plan to send more students to MBBS courses next year. It wants to select students for NEET coaching through a screening test and will conduct weekly tests at schools.

As per a circular issued by the directorate of school education, the screening test will be conducted on August 7. “The question paper and answer keys for the test will be sent to chief education officers. They should send the scores to the directorate by August 12,” the circular said. It further instructed conduct of weekly tests for students from government and government-aided schools on Fridays.

The department imparted NEET coaching to 19,355 students at 412 centres across the state. It gave residential coaching to the 2,700-odd students at 14 places.

An official said the screening test was not new and was conducted last year. “We have to select students for coaching classes. But if any student wants to attend coaching, we will accommodate him or her,” the official said

For the past two years, the government has provided NEET coaching in collaboration with Speed Medical Institute. As of now, the department has not tied up with any private agency. “The department has trained teachers and materials to conduct the coaching at schools,” an official said.

This NEET, 32 students trained by government-backed coaching centres scored above 300 compared to just 10 last year. The number of qualified students also increased from 1,333 last year to 2,000-plus. However, no student was able to secure a seat.

“Due to the lack of support from the school education department, many students could not get MBBS seats. We prepared speed learning app, study materials and question banks, but nothing reached them,” said Dr Vinayak Senthil, managing director, Speed Medical Institute. He said the institute incurred a loss of Rs 20 crore for NEET coaching. “Though state government allocated Rs 20 crore for it, we have not received any money. They paid Rs 1.96 crore to the internet service provider as bandwidth charges in April,” he said.

Officials said making payment to the institute was difficult since it did not come through a proper tender process. “They have not given us the desired results. Now they cannot talk about the lack of support and payment,” an official said.

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