Page 67 - EW July 2024

largest number of medical colleges
worldwide (706), they offer a mere
108,940 seats — 56,300 in govern-
ment and 52,640 in private colleges —
annually for undergrad (MBBS) medi-
cal education. Conversely, China’s 420
colleges provide 286,000 seats. This
paradox is because of government
rules adopted by the National Medi-
cal Commission (NMC, estb.2020),
the successor medical education and
practice regulatory body of the scan-
dal-tainted Medical Council of India,
which mandate that every medical
college should have an “attached”
hospital.
P RECONDITIONS FOR estab- Kota coaching schools: school-leavers epicentre

lishment of a medical col-
lege include minimum 20
acres of land (relaxed to sustain the Rs.58,000 crore test prep Supreme Court ruled that a Central
10 acres in metros) and a 300-bed at- aka coaching industry. Millions of NEET-UG written annually country-
tached fully equipped hospital, which dazed school-leavers are herded into wide is a preferable undergraduates
should have been functional for at offline and online coaching classes admissions exam.
least two years at the time of applica- where they swot to make it into the Subsequently, the inaugural NEET-
tion for registering a new medical col- rank of top 56,000 students admit- UG was conducted in 2016 by the Del-
lege. Moreover, NMC rules mandate ted into government medical colleges hi-based Central Board of Secondary
differing size attached hospitals for annually. In Kota, the epicenter of Examination (CBSE), the country’s
colleges with larger student numbers. India’s tests-prep coaching industry, largest school-leaving examination
These complex administrative re- over 300 coaching schools drill and board with 29,662 affiliated schools.
quirements drive up cost of promot- skill an estimated 2.5 lakh students The following year (2017), the BJP-
ing greenfield medical colleges, and annually for the NEET-UG exam. led NDA government established the
eventually tuition fees. Under extreme pressure to be ranked National Testing Agency (NTA) as “a
Dr. Devi Shetty, renowned car- among the Top 56,000, dozens end premier, specialist, autonomous and
diologist and chairman of Narayana their lives by suicide. In 2023, 27 stu- self-sustained testing organisation to
Health City, Bengaluru, is highly dents resorted to suicide in Kota — the conduct entrance examinations for
critical of these preconditions for pro- largest number ever. admission/fellowship in higher edu-
moting medical colleges. “In India, it According to monitors of the edu- cational institutions”. It was tasked
costs at least Rs.400 crore to build cation system, transformation of with conducting 42 national exams
a medical college. In the Caribbean, NEET-UG into a centralized high- including the IIT-JEE, NEET-UG,
35 medical colleges are training doc- stakes single annual exam is rooted in UGC-NET, among others.
tors for the US in 50,000 sq. ft rented widespread distrust of education stan- However despite NTA’s several
premises in shopping malls with stu- dards of state governments. Before in- gaffes since 2017 when it was estab-
dents interning with public hospitals. troduction of NEET-UG in 2016, every lished, some informed monitors of
In India, we have made medical edu- state government conducted its own India’s obsolete education system ad-
cation an elitist affair… this country common entrance test (CET) for ad- vise patience with centralised exams
requires liberation of medical, nurs- mission into government and private and NTA. “NTA is a young organisa-
ing and paramedical education from medical colleges (also engineering and tion and as the recent NEET-UG exam
burdensome official regulation,” says other professional colleges) within debacle shows, it has much to learn.
Dr. Shetty. (See www.youtube.com/ their jurisdiction. However, with some Fair and error-free testing at scale is
watch?v=IuMCGjjwyRI). students complaining that they had to possible only when exam processes
An over-regulated medical educa- incur the expense and inconvenience and systems are refined to extremely
tion system and middle class aspira- of travelling to write entrance exams high quality standards. Unfortunately,
tion for the prized medical degree of different states and worry about NTA has not invested sufficiently in
have coalesced to create, drive and clash of exam dates, in 2016, the establishing fool-proof processes and

JULY 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 67