Page 68 - EW July 2024

Special Report

India's medical education capacity distribution

State No. of colleges MBBS seats State No. of colleges MBBS seats
Govt. Pvt. Govt. Pvt. Govt. Pvt. Govt . Pvt.
Andaman & Nicobar Islands 1 0 114 0 Maharashtra 32 36 5,125 5,720
Andhra Pradesh 18 19 3,235 3,250 Manipur 3 1 375 150
Arunachal Pradesh 1 0 50 0 Meghalaya 1 0 50 0
Assam 13 0 1,550 0 Mizoram 1 0 100 0
Bihar 13 8 1,615 1,150 Nagaland 1 0 100 0
Chandigarh 1 0 150 0 Orissa 12 5 1,675 850
Chhattisgarh 11 3 1,555 450 Puducherry 2 7 380 1,450
Dadra and Nagar Haveli 1 0 177 0 Punjab 5 7 850 950
Delhi 8 2 1,247 250 Rajasthan 26 9 3,925 1,650
Goa 1 0 180 0 Sikkim 0 1 0 150
Gujarat 23 17 4,250 2,900 Tamil Nadu 38 36 5,275 6,375
Haryana 6 9 835 1,350 Telangana 28 28 3,890 4,600
Himachal Pradesh 7 1 770 150 Tripura 1 1 125 100
Jammu and Kashmir 11 1 1,239 100 Uttar Pradesh 35 33 4,303 5,600
Jharkhand 7 2 730 250 Uttarakhand 5 3 700 450
Karnataka 24 46 3,750 7,995 West Bengal 26 9 3,825 1,450
Kerala 12 21 1,755 2,900 Total 389 317 56,300 52,640
Madhya Pradesh 15 12 2,400 2,400 Source: Lok Sabha response (2.2.2024)

systems, and more fundamentally state’s legislative assembly has
in building assessments capacity. It passed resolutions demanding NEET
needs to seriously develop a cadre exemption for Tamil Nadu, arguing
of professionals trained and skilled that a single qualifying national test
in the science of assessment, assess- violates federalism and social justice.
ment design, scaled examinations, On September 13, 2021, the assembly
examination operations, testing for passed the Tamil Nadu Under Gradu-
skills versus testing for knowledge, ate Medical College Degree Courses
and standardisation practices using Bill, 2021, exempting school-leavers
advanced statistics. Moreover, NTA from the state from writing NEET.
has under-utilised technology which However, the Bill is pending approval
can be effectively used to ensure great- of President Draupadi Murmu, who
er transparency in the examination is obliged to act on the advice of the
process,” says Meeta Sengupta, an Central government.
IIM-Ahmedabad alumna and a Delhi- On June 23, Tamil Nadu chief
based education advisor and mentor minister M.K. Stalin posted on X
on leadership, governance, education Sengupta: technology under-utilisation (twitter) that the NEET-UG scam and
and skills. cancellation of UGC-NET are “final
Unsurprisingly, NTA’s big NEET- trance exam. All major political par- nails in the coffin of an incompetent
UG 2024 mess has resurrected de- ties — especially the ruling DMK and and broken system of centralised se-
mands from several non-BJP ruled opposition All India Anna Dravida lection”. He called for a national con-
states including Karnataka, West Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) — sensus to stipulate higher secondary
Bengal and Tamil Nadu, to return to have vehemently opposed NEET on exam marks as criteria for admission
pre-2016 position with state govern- the ground that students from govern- into medical colleges in every state.
ments conducting medical college en- ment, especially rural, schools suffer “As this scam unravels, let us plan for
trance examinations. The most vocal severe disadvantage in writing NEET a better future and join our hands for
demand for scrapping NEET is from because they can’t afford test prep/ building a fair and equitable selection
Tamil Nadu which ab initio opposed coaching school drilling and skilling. process for professional courses, en-
the introduction of this national en- On more than one occasion the suring the primacy of school educa-

68 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2024