The State Platform for Common School System (SPCSS), a body of educationists, activists and professionals, has said that the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) must be abolished as it was harmful to both medical education and the public health system.
In a detailed representation sent to the Justice A.K. Rajan Committee, set up by the Tamil Nadu government to study the impact of NEET, SPCSS said NEET would destroy the public health infrastructure built by Tamil Nadu at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels by denying medical education to meritorious students from humble backgrounds who would prefer to serve in the government sector.
The organisation argued that NEET was not recommended by the expert committee headed by Ranjit Roy Chaudhury in 2014 to study the Indian Medical Council Act to suggest changes or the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) that analysed the report or even the Supreme Court in its 2016 judgment in the Modern Dental College case.
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It pointed out that the concerns raised by the expert committee, the PSC and the Supreme Court were related to commercialisation of medical education and steps to prevent charging of arbitrary and high fees by private medical educational institutions.
It said that the concerns were “not aimed at interfering in the medical colleges and universities incorporated, administered and regulated by the State governments”.
Stating that it was NITI Aayog that came up with the idea of NEET, SPCSS alleged that it was done to favour private educational institutions and had worsened the situation regarding commercialisation of education.
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Arguing that NEET was against students of parents who had no education, students who could not afford coaching centres and students from socially and economically backward backgrounds, the organisation said that the exam instead favoured students from upper class and elite backgrounds.