Page 22 - EducationWorld Aug 2020 Flipbuilder
P. 22
Education News
Unfortunately in all 29 states and for government school students who
seven Union territories, politicisation clear NEET.
of education is a pervasive reality. “Between 2009-2016, less than 1
And Karnataka is no exception. percent of government school-leavers
Akhila Damodaran (Bangalore) were admitted into medical colleges in
Tamil Nadu. In private colleges too,
TAMIL NADU of the 6,132 seats filled in those years,
Soft quota option only 65 were awarded to students of
government schools. After the intro-
duction of NEET in 2017, government
esponding to insistent de- school students are getting only one or
mand, an ordinance providing two seats. The quota of 7.5 percent is a
Ra 7.5 percent reserved quota huge boon for government school stu-
in Tamil Nadu’s 41 government and dents. On the other hand, an equiva-
private medical colleges for students lent number of merit students ranked
of state government higher secondary above them in NEET will be excluded.
schools who top the National Eligibil- But if the government increases the
ity cum Entrance Test (NEET) for ad- total number of seats in the state’s
mission into the country’s 542 medical medical colleges, these students can
colleges, was issued on July 14. also be admitted,” says Manickavel
According to a government spokes- Arumugam, an alum of the Guindy
person, this decision which carves out Engineering College, National Uni-
a “quota within a quota” for govern- versity of Singapore and currently a 50 percent of the 37,500 government
ment school students, is based on the Chennai-based career counsellor. schools in the state have recently
recommendations of a committee However, some academics believe switched the medium of instruction
headed by P. Kalaiyarasan, former that the quota-within-quota legislated from Tamil to English. But the very
judge of the Madras high court. The by the state government is a temporary same teachers continue to teach them.
panel proposed reservation between band-aid solution. “The appropriate How can these children fare well in
7.5-10 percent for class XII school- response is to raise teaching-learning competitive national exams such as
leavers graduating from government standards in government schools. Un- NEET?” queries ATB Bose, general
schools affiliated with the Tamil Nadu less there is knowledge application- secretary of Association of Manage-
Board of Secondary Education (TN- based teaching in government schools, ments of Private Schools of Tamil
BSE). In effect, it means that of the there will be widespread resentment Nadu.
total number of students from Tamil against quotas and reservations in n the other hand, Dr. Suresh
Nadu who pass NEET, the top 7.5 per- their favour,” warns Sudha Malini, OBabu, professor of economics
cent from government schools will be principal of the CBSE-affiliated RMK at the top-ranked IIT-Madras, inter-
admitted into Tamil Nadu’s govern- Senior Secondary School, Thiruverka- prets the special quota for govern-
ment and private medical colleges, at du, which has 1,700 students and 90 ment school children in state medical
the expense of students ranked higher teachers on its muster rolls. colleges as an initiative to stem the
in NEET. The poor learning outcomes of chil- continuous exodus of students to pri-
This ordinance has been passed dren in Tamil Nadu’s 37,500 govern- vate schools. “This reserved quota is
after widespread protests that stu- ment schools is the result of decades of an initiative to brighten the image of
dents of government schools were at government interference with teacher government schools. In recent years,
a disadvantage when writing NEET. recruitment, lack of accountabil- there’s been large scale migration of
In this connection, it’s noteworthy ity and language learning politics. “It students from government to private
that when NEET was introduced in needs to be analysed why government schools. In the southern districts of
2017 to determine admission into school-leavers are struggling to get ad- Tamil Nadu like Kanyakumari, pri-
all medical colleges countrywide, it mission in medical colleges. The plain vate schools are thriving. Therefore,
evoked widespread protests in Tamil truth is that most of them don’t have the state government is trying to give
Nadu and even provoked the suicide laboratories which have become very incentives such as cash awards and
of a student who topped TNBSE, but important as the MBBS syllabus has special coaching to government school
failed to qualify under NEET. There- been revised. Due to non-availability children writing NEET,” says Babu.
fore on March 21, chief minister E.K. of proper infrastructure and teacher A more enlightened response of the
Palaniswami announced the provision accountability and confusion about government and educracy of Tamil
of a sub-quota in medical admissions medium of instruction issues, almost Nadu would be to carefully study and
22 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2020