NEET Pattern Should Change, Treat Physics as Qualifying Test, Say Student Rights Activist

After the Tamil Nadu government claimed that the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) is not the right way to assess medical aspirants, there has been a demand for scrapping a common entrance test for admission to medical and dental colleges.

Committee set up by the Tamil Nadu government to analyse the social and economic impact of NEET claimed that students who have been enrolled in MBBS courses via NEET have performed poorly than those enrolled based on class 12 marks.

Students’ rights activist and educator Amit Gupta has suggested a way out in the debate. In a series of tweets, Gupta asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to change the exam scheme of NEET. He tweeted that the agency should ask a better level of conceptual questions in those subjects which medical students will have to study in the future academic curriculum.

https://twitter.com/agupta_7/status/1449743502372323329?t=a9WY-_oMVT1kU386DRe8Qg&s=19

In another tweet, he stated that this is the only way to control the rising cutoff of the medical entrance exam. Explaining that the skills of future pilots can’t be judged on their ability to swim, he added that the capabilities of pre-medical aspirants can be judged only by asking relevant questions.

Earlier he shared a poll, stating that Physics should only be included as a subject to qualify with minimum marks, not as a merit decider in NEET UG.

https://twitter.com/agupta_7/status/1449432772506832901

He also highlighted how students are getting exploited by expensive coaching centres and waste their years by dropping for another year or two of preparation just so that they could improve their NEET score. He also shared a snapshot of previous years’ NEET cut-off and the students who got admission to private medical colleges and became doctors despite scoring zero in physics.

https://twitter.com/agupta_7/status/1449843898134654976

He shared that a minimum qualifying score for Physics like 45/180, will ensure that no one can enter a medical college with zero scores in the subject. He added, “Stopping Rich buyers will force Pvt Colleges to lower fees making entry of meritorious students easier on Pvt seats.”

https://twitter.com/agupta_7/status/1449845692428533760

NEET-UG 2021 was conducted on September 12 and the answer key has also been released. The NTA is likely to announce the result soon. The medical aspirants who belong to the general category need to secure a minimum of 50 percentile marks in the entrance exam to be eligible for all India quota (AIQ) counselling. For candidates belonging to other categories like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and the General-PwD category are required to secure at least 40- 45 percentile marks in the exam.

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