TN: Panel tells govt to Take steps to eliminate NEET, make 12th marks as sole criteria for MBBS admissions
Chennai: Amidst the controversy surrounding the NEET 2024 results, retired judge of Madras High Court Justice A K Rajan has asked the Tamil Nadu government to take immediate steps to eliminate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) through legal and/or legislative procedures and make higher secondary examination marks the sole criteria for admission to first-year medical programmes.
The government should ensure equality in opportunity to students from different boards of education and normalisation of scores may be followed, the retired judge who headed a high-level committee, has recommended, reports PTI.
The panel was constituted after DMK stormed to power in the state in 2021, to study the impact of the NEET-based admission process.
The committee's report, based on extensive data analysis and inputs from students, parents and the public, has been published and shared with various state governments to expose NEET's anti-poor and anti-social justice nature.
"DMK was the first to foresee the hazards of #NEET and undertook a large-scale campaign against it," Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin, said in a post on the social media platform X, sharing the comprehensive report submitted to his government, in English and other regional languages.
In its recommendations, the committee said "the State government may undertake immediate steps to eliminate NEET, as qualifying criteria for admission to medical programmes, by following the required legal and/or legislative procedures."
The government may take a stand that the words 'University education found in Entry 25 List III is a 'general provision and 'Regulation of Universities" in Entry II is a 'special' provision: Entry 32 is an exclusive State subject that cannot be ignored.
Admission to affiliated colleges under the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University are governed by Act 3 of 2007 and hence admission to those seats will be filled as per the provisions of that Act. In this regard, the state may follow the required procedures to satisfy the legal and constitutional provisions, it said.
Alternatively, the state government may pass an Act, similar to the Act 3/2007, indicating the need for elimination of NEET at all levels of medical Education, and get the President's assent for the same to ensure social justice and protect all vulnerable student communities from being discriminated in admission to medical education programmes.
The higher secondary scores should become the sole admission criteria for admission to first degree medical programmes, and that to ensure equality in opportunity to students from different boards of education, normalisation of scores may be followed, the committee recommended.
The socio, economic and other demographic 'adversities' that cause poor performance of all relevant students, mainly the disadvantaged and underprivileged, in their HSC examination shall be identified, and according to the degree of intensities of adversities, re-profiling of scores can be done using a pre-developed framework of Adversity Score'.
It emphasised the reformation of school education up to HSC so that 'learning" as opposed to 'coaching' is fostered, and right from curriculum through teaching and learning to learning assessment (Board Examination), shall be tweaked toward enabling and empowering students with subject knowledge and higher order skills.
The rote form of learning assessment that leads to coaching shall be eliminated and that the acquired knowledge and skills shall be focussed, it said.
As far as deemed universities are concerned, an Act has to be passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to bring all the deemed universities of Tamil Nadu under its purview, as under Act 3/2007 and the President's assent has to be obtained.
"Based on the recommendations in the report, a Bill seeking exemption from NEET was unanimously passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. It is now awaiting Presidential assent, after an inordinate delay from the Tamil Nadu Governor's side," Stalin said.
As nationwide opposition to NEET grew due to the recent large-scale discrepancies, "we are sharing the report of Justice A K Rajan Committee in English and all major Indian languages for everyone to better understand the ill-effects of NEET," the Chief Minister said in his post.
NEET UG 2024 Results and Alleged Irregularities:
This year's NEET results shocked many as altogether 67 candidates secured the All India Rank 1 in the examination. Moreover, soon after the reports of a large number of students securing full marks i.e. 720 marks in the exam came to light, the allegations of the NEET paper leak scam started circulating on the social media platforms.
Several X users including doctors and health activists also referred to the NEET marking pattern questioning how some candidates secured 718 or 719 marks in the exam, which seems impossible considering the NEET marking scheme. According to the NEET marking scheme, every candidate is awarded 4 marks for every right answer and 1 mark is deducted for every wrong answer. Therefore, after the full marks i.e. 720, the candidates can only secure 716 marks if they leave one answer unattempted. Similarly, a candidate would get 715 marks if he/she gives one wrong answer.
Concerns were also raised regarding multiple students securing the AIR 1 rank from the same centre. When NTA tried to justify these doubts stating that several candidates were awarded grace marks to compensate for loss of time, further questions were raised. NTA was requested to furnish details about the number of students who were awarded grace marks and the rules that were applied for granting such grace marks to students.
Plea in HC & Supreme Court:
Earlier a plea was filed before the Patna HC seeking a CBI investigation into the irregularities in NEET UG 2024 results. Several pleas have been filed before the Supreme Court as well. The first plea demanded a fresh NEET-UG 2024 examination and a stay on publication of the results. While the Apex Court agreed to consider the matter, it denied granting a stay on the publication of NEET results.
In June itself two more pleas were filed in this connection. The latest of these two, the plea filed on June 9, was filed by by persons hailing from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The petitioners belong to SIO and claimed to work for the benefit of the students. Filing the plea, they have also sought a stay on the NEET-UG 2024 counselling until the completion of the investigation into the alleged question paper leak. They also prayed to the Court to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged malpractices in the conduct of the exam.
It highlighted the alleged arbitrariness of the grant of grace marks. Further referring to the fact hat several students secured 718 and 719 marks out of 720 marks, the petitioners have contended that it was "statistically impossible".
Meanwhile, while considering a plea alleging various irregularities in the NEET 2024 examination, the Calcutta High Court has ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to file an affidavit within 10 days in response.
Govt Constitutes Panel:
Amid this uproar, NTA informed during the Press Conference on Saturday that the Education Ministry has formed a panel to reassess the results of more than 1,600 students who received grace marks in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 exams.
A former UPSC Chairperson will chair this four-member panel and this committee will examine the potential discrepancies in the undergraduate medical entrance examination.
