Is NEET English medium, a test for the rich?

A new front of the confrontation between the Center and the state regarding the law has opened up regarding the NEET exam. Resolutions have been passed in the Legislative Assemblies of many states against the Centre's citizenship law, agricultural laws. The issue of the NEET exam has also been added in this episode.

A new front of the confrontation between the Center and the state regarding the law has opened up regarding the NEET exam. Resolutions have been passed in the Legislative Assemblies of many states against the Centre's citizenship law, agricultural laws. The issue of the NEET exam has also been added in this episode. When the bill was brought against it in the Tamil Nadu state assembly on 13 September, it was also supported by the opposition party AIDMK. AIDMK ally BJP boycotted voting in the assembly. The entire state is adamant about being separated from the system of the NEET exams. Tamil Nadu will be able to withdraw from the NEET exam only if the President approves the bill passed in the assembly. This is a necessary process to get out of the law made by the central government. There is also a story related to this. In 2015, when the BJP did not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, it could not get the amendment of the Land Acquisition Bill, then there is a statement of Arun Jaitley that the state governments should pass this bill and get approval from the Center, meaning the President will approve. A similar resolution was passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2017 as well, but it was not approved. In 2016, the Supreme Court ordered that there would be a national medical examination. But no one had any idea how this one order was going to affect the lives of the students preparing for medical around that year.

S Anita is the face of the protest against the NEET exam in Tamil Nadu. Daughter of a Dalit laborer, Anita's dream was to become a doctor. It was good to read. The year when the NEET exam was being held for the first time, Anita had secured 98 percent marks in the state board exams. On this basis, she could have got enrolled in any medical college in the state, but Anita failed due to NEET. She came to the Supreme Court that NEET is against the poor and the students of the village, then the petition was dismissed. S Anita committed suicide. After that, protests erupted all over Tamil Nadu. This was one of the strongest and most vocal protests in the history of India, separated from any examination process. It spread in every village that if the system of NEET examination would come, then the coaching industry would open up and the children of villages and poor families would not be able to dream of becoming a doctor. You can also look at this protest from the point of view that this is the only such protest in India that is struggling to stop education from going into the hands of money people. Since then, Anita has become a symbol of protest against the NEET exam in Tamil Nadu.

In June 2019, three students in Tamil Nadu committed suicide after appearing for the NEET exam. All three were girls. Ritu's father used to work as a daily wage laborer in a textile factory. M Monisha and Vaishya's father were fishermen. All four girls were from poor homes. She was meritorious but got caught in the trap of coaching and solver gang, Neet took her life. According to media reports, 15 students in Tamil Nadu have committed suicide in the last few years out of desperation that they cannot clear the NEET exam.

Tamil Nadu's opposition to the NEET exam is not just political. Prior to this, admission in medical was available on the basis of board examination, for which poor students did not have to fall into the trap of expensive coaching. He could have become a doctor on the strength of his talent. But NEET has changed their world. In October 2019, A Raghu Raman of Chennai Bureau of Times of India wrote that more than ten thousand coaching training centers have started in the state due to NEET. Has become a business of more than 500 crores. The students of Tamil Nadu wanted to save themselves from this trap and their protest reached the manifesto of all political parties. Today the condition is that the central government does not have the data about how many students who have cleared the NEET exam have taken coaching. How important is this information, but then Education Minister Nishank has given a statement in the Lok Sabha that there is no such data? Such data should be there so that there can be a wider debate about the NEET exam.

In the news, you must have seen that Narendra Modi had opposed the concept of NEET examination as Chief Minister, the way GST did, but this picture is from the year 2017. That year the parents of Gujarati medium students also took to the streets. Their demand was that a separate merit list for Gujarati medium students and CBSE students should be made in the medical colleges of the states. Everywhere the students of CBSE school are filled. In that year separate question papers were made for the students of Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, some of the questions became more difficult, then there was a demand that questions of each language should have the same level. 120 students from Telangana were given question papers in English and Hindi medium while they filled the exam form in Telugu medium. NEET questions come in different languages, but there is no separate data on how many students of which language have cleared the exam.

The government should tell how many students who have cleared the NEET exam have taken coaching, how many students are from Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi mediums. What kind of gap is this exam creating? In 2019, a reply from the then Education Minister Nishank makes it clear how CBSE students have outperformed in the NEET examination.

Of the students who appeared in this examination from CBSE, 75.9 percent of students passed. Only 50.5 percent of students who appeared in NEET from the state board could pass.

The fear of Tamil Nadu is not air. The point of debate there is that the one who spends money due to NEET will pass the exam. There is no equal opportunity in this exam. In the month of June, the Tamil Nadu government formed a committee under the chairmanship of Justice AK Rajan, retired High Court, to study the impact of the NEET exam, especially on the backward caste students. Their report is telling how this examination is against the students of the village and the poor and the main objective of NEET was that capitation fees of crores of rupees would be abolished, that is being taken as regular fees. Rather, now instead of fifty lakh, one crore is being taken. Justice Rajan also debunks the notion that only meritorious students are selected from NEET.

Justice Rajan has repeatedly emphasized that NEET is giving an edge to the most paid students who can take advantage of expensive coaching and coaching for many years. There is also the question that even earlier there was a network of tuition centers in the state. Because of that also poor students were lagging behind. Justice Rajan says that there is no protest in other states because they are not aware of its dangerous consequences. Not only this, till today there are reports of scams and rigging in this examination. Every year there is news of a solver gang getting caught in the NEET exam. Instead of a student, a fast medical student gives the exam and gets someone to pass. The central government has not been able to give 100% safe examinations to the students to date.

These are the news of this month. Varanasi Police has caught a solver gang. Osama Shahid, a medical final year student, has been caught. Abhay Kumar Mehta has been caught. BDP student Julie and her mother have also been arrested in BHU. Julie had cleared the NEET exam two years ago. Julie was going to take the exam in exchange for another student. According to reports, Rs 5 lakh was taken to pass the exam. In 2019, the Madras High Court had to order that the fingerprints of 4,250 students taking admission in the state's medical colleges would be taken to verify that only those students who were taking admission had appeared for the examination. Six such students were caught that year. The National Testing Agency is neither able to save NEET nor IIT exams from rigging.

NEET exam is going on and the solver gang is sending someone instead of someone else to take the exam. If there are transactions worth lakhs of rupees, then there will be deep apprehension in the mind of the students that this examination is only for those who give money to coaching and those who steal by paying money. Its credibility has not yet been confirmed. On Wednesday, we had told Patna University that several hundred posts of teachers are vacant. Without teachers, many years of students would have passed by and they would not have developed. It seems like a jugaad to deliberately keep the students behind. For which both the government and the society there are working very hard so that our children are not able to go ahead.

Our colleague Habib went to Patna University even today. The students of Bihar used to dream of studying in a science college, even today the same dream is seen to study here but now it is no longer a science college. Its beautiful buildings indicate a grand institution, but the condition inside is telling that the government has decided that science also dumps the college. What was the name of the Chemistry Department of Science College but today there is no teacher in its laboratory to teach the students? The students do some things on their own, the rest of the lab's roof is dilapidated and the necessary things are not even available. The leaders who spread communal fervor among the youth in the name of a new university never bring these youth with them to these places which could have been improved with a little help. 1800 students study in Science College. Half are girls. With how much hard work these girls must have reached Patna and Patna's Science College. They will not even know that the science of this college is over. Here the number of sanctioned posts of teachers is 91 but there are 29 teachers. 61 are not teachers. In their place, work is being done by 16 guest faculty. Habib met Abhay Kumar, who works in the Department of Chemistry and is the General Secretary of the Teachers Association of Patna Vishwavidyalaya. They say that 70 percent are not teachers. More have retired than the new ones.

I know very well that showing such a report neither affects society nor the government. If the Bihar government cannot run a science college, then it should be closed completely.

18000 students study at Patna University. The number of sanctioned posts in the university is more than 850 but less than 300 teachers are teaching. The leader of the teachers union said that most of the students are in the history department here but there is not a single teacher there. In many departments, there is not a single teacher for post-graduation studies. Abhay Kumar said that some teachers have been appointed but more than that have retired. Habib reached the Department of Geography, passing through many parts of Patna University. It was found that there is only one professor and two guest faculty teach here. Prof Anuradha Sahay had written to the VC only last year that all the posts are vacant. After listening to the experiences of the students, it was felt that the future of the students in India can be ruined by the government and then the same students can be fooled that India has become or is going to become a Vishwa Guru. For many years similar batches of batches are being passed without teachers. They too will pass. These pictures are telling that a state like Bihar has left higher education in the middle. In the grip of Article 370, temple and caste, the youth of Hindi state do not even know what it means to not study properly, how far other students of the world have gone ahead of them at this age.

I have already shown such conditions of Patna University. I am showing this time so that I can tell you that the condition of this university is still bad. Its history is now worth singing. Currently, nothing is worth showing. The Vice-Chancellor of Patna University is a student of this university. Who better than he can see the downfall. But I can say with certainty that by looking at the VC's room, you will not feel that you are looking at a ruined university. Just as the ruin of the university doesn't matter to you, in the same way you don't care that Newslaundry is being raided in NewsClick's offices. The offices of Harsh Mander, who works for the poor, are being raided at home. You must have made a difference, but you are not able to speak.

All social human rights organizations have condemned the raids on Harsh Mander and pledged to stand in support of him. In April-May 2020, when Sonu Sood came for the people on foot, everyone saw how much Sonu helped. As soon as Sonu Sood became the brand ambassador of a program of the Delhi government, his house was also raided. If you still believe that the law is taking its course and no one else's, then you are smart enough, smarter than a smart city that is nowhere to be seen.