Tamil Nadu is a State where there has been significant political opposition to the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test. Last year, the State had among the lower qualification rates among comparable States - 39.56%. This year, however, students have managed to lift the qualification rate to 48.57%, a good nine percentage point increase. Despite this increase, the State is still well below the national average qualification rate of 56%.
One of the contentions by NEET-opponents has been that the exam has given an edge to students studying the CBSE syllabus in school in comparison to others. Tamil Nadu had reason for concern -- a back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the average number of CBSE schools among eligible high-schoolers is lower compared to other bigger States. The same holds true for Maharashtra and Gujarat as well. While Maharashtra continues to have a lower qualification rate for two years in a row (below 40%), Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have managed to improve.
However, no student from Tamil Nadu cracked the top 50 ranks while Gujarat and Maharashtra had three students each among this set. Delhi, meanwhile, which has the highest NEET qualification rate in the past two years, also has the highest ratio of students to CBSE schools. The same holds for Haryana and other States which have an above-average per-capita ratio of CBSE schools.
CBSE syllabus might not be the only reason for a State’s success or failure, though it could be a contributing factor. Rajasthan or Odisha, for instance, which have a lower CBSE schools to students ratio, have a better NEET qualification rate than Tamil Nadu.
One possibility in those States could be that the school curricula in non-CBSE school boards could be similar to the CBSE syllabi. Another possibility is that a higher percentage of students attend coaching centres targeted at clearing NEET. This is indeed true of Rajasthan where Kota remains a popular coaching hub.
While Tamil Nadu does not have a better NEET qualification rate -- the State has the lowest percentage of school dropouts in the country, according to DISE data (14%). Which means that the percentage of students aged 17-18 who are eligible to take the NEET is high. The State has done a commendable job in arresting student dropouts from school.
Calculations projected from the Census 2011 figures show that Tamil Nadu is among the States where the percentage of total 17-18 year-olds who compete and clear NEET is high. An estimated 5% of the total 17-18 year-olds in Tamil Nadu competed for NEET, according to the projection. Also, the estimates for those who cleared NEET in 2019 were close to 2.5% of the 17-18 year old projected population in Tamil Nadu.
This means that a higher percentage of students in Tamil Nadu finish school and as a result, a higher percentage of 17-18 year old students are eligible to compete and clear NEET compared to other States, while the overall qualification rate considering estimated college-age eligible population was middling.
Kerala has the best student retention rate and among the best NEET qualification rates for bigger States. Tamil Nadu can indeed emulate the Kerala model in preparing school children to be ready to tackle the common entrance tests, just as it has managed to solve one end of the puzzle - preparing children to be in a position to finish school.
