Page 38 - EW-August-2024 PDF _Neat

Expert Comment

NEET-UG 2024: Deep rot

symptom

KRISHNA KUMAR

HIS SUMMER’S AWFUL STORY Of NEET The 200 questions that NEET-UG asks
(National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test –
the centralised national exam for undergrad candidates to solve are multiple choice
Tadmission into the country’s 706 medical questions. Students drilled into speedy
colleges, written by 2.4 million school-leavers in 2024)
reveals how far things have gone in a wrong direction. cracking of questions are certain to get
But the NEET story is merely a symptom of what high rank. What have these skills to do
has happened to our system of education. If you start
from June 4 when NEET-UG results were declared, with becoming a good doctor?
you can recognize all efforts made by the authorities
and institutions to ignore grave lapses. When it became cancelled.
impossible to ignore protests, attempts were made to use By usurping the school, NEET has rendered school
adhesive tape to make things look normal. curricular reforms irrelevant. In science, these reforms
The images of 18-year-olds protesting in New Delhi’s had focused on practical experimentation to encourage
sweltering heat will not endure in the ever-changing students to observe and think on their own. Coaching
world of the new digital media, but the troubles afflicted institutes have no place or time for labs or practicals.
by NEET will. Can the expert committee appointed to Break-down of each item and relentless practice
look into them provide applicable solutions? Can the of solving questions asked in different verbal ways is
National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts NEET the focus of teaching at a coaching institute. Thus, its
and other entrance tests learn from the experience and dominance has damaged the quality of science learning
improve itself? at the institutional and individual levels. Does this affect
These questions are not real, in the sense that they the quality of learning in a medical study programme?
don’t reveal how deep the rot has penetrated. Even if Obviously it does, but no one talks about it. Studies made
NEET had delivered a result without convulsions, we in the IITs have shown that the quality of project work
would still be unsure if the successful candidates are and other activities has suffered as a consequence of the
better suited to pursue the medical practitioner’s career role of coaching in the selection of entrants.
than those who did not succeed. The 200 questions oung people don’t know how far things have slid. To
NEET-UG asks candidates to solve at furious speed are Ybe young means to be unaware of the history in which
like ones asked in any Multiple Choice Question (MCQ)- your own life is wrapped. If coaching is the way to get
based exam. They are all drawn from the NCERT’s senior into a medical career, so be it, say NEET aspirants. Their
secondary level textbooks for three science subjects. If parents too see no better option. The government has
you ‘master’ (meaning, memorise) these textbooks, and accepted the clout of coaching institutes and recognised
if you’ve been drilled into speedy cracking of question their contribution to the economy of towns like Kota.
items, you are certain to get a high rank. The coaching industry has now absorbed a
What have these skills to do with becoming a good considerable number of the academically qualified but
doctor? Will these skills help a medical practitioner jobless youth of at least two generations as coaches. The
maintain her devotion to the profession throughout a long industry also keeps the dream of professional careers and
career? Not really. All that NEET does is to offer a process civil service alive for millions. The dream lingers on with
to eliminate a vast number of candidates and arrange the repeated attempts at exams like NEET.
rest into a ranked order. Incompetence and malpractice have muddied the
It is no secret that success in NEET depends on NEET story this year. Yet the idea of an overarching exam
being professionally coached. The legal battle for and — that too based entirely on MCQs — is flawed. Will it
against re-doing NEET is led by coaching institutions. be rectified in coming years? Hard to tell. Generally, the
In televised debates one saw several famous coaches of system muddles along, and when it gets stuck, a lot of
the different science subjects, but not one teacher from noise is made, giving the impression that radical reform
a regular higher secondary school. NEET and other measures will be taken soon.
competitive exams have pushed science school teachers to That rarely happens and when the wheel is pulled out
the margins. Schools have no choice but to allow students of fresh mud, the bullock cart carries on. This is hardly a
to attend coaching classes in school time, and NEET cynical description. All it does is to remind ourselves that
candidates seldom worry about (the school-leaving) real reforms demand sustained critique and will.
board exam results. A few years ago, the IIT admission
test allotted a certain percentage of marks to students’ (Dr. Krishna Kumar is honorary professor of education, Panjab University,
board exam performance. Later, this arrangement was and a former Director of NCERT)

38 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2024