Crying wolf over Neet

Chennai: DMK leader M.K.Stalin’s appeal to the Chief Ministers of southern states to oppose NEET is unlikely to find any takers. The reason - students from these states have performed better in Neet than those from Tamil Nadu especially those from Telangana and Kerala.

Stalin has come up with the wild accusation that Neet is a killer, following the suicide of Prathiba from Villupuram district for failing in the exam. And hence it needs to be scrapped. But no such demand has come from Telangana where 18 year old Jasleen Kaur Saluja too jumped to her death from a mall in Hyderabad after failing to clear Neet. She too like Prathiba had scored good marks in her 12th board exams.

The constant demand to abolish Neet has emanated only from Tamil Nadu while other southern states have brought in laws to apply Neet scores for admission to private medical colleges too. Tamil politicians continue to mislead students that Tamil Nadu alone would be able to procure an exemption from Neet when the Supreme Court, on more than one occasion, has clarified that NEET would apply across all states. No TN political leader wants to admit that NEET is here to stay.

Sadly, playing parochial politics for short-term gains-which are difficult to spot in a clean social environment-have often taken precedence over public good for these politicos.

While the opponents of Neet from Tamil Nadu have said that it intruded into state's powers to form its own admission policy, similar protestations have not come from any other non-BJP states. Kerala conducted KEAM - an entrance exam for engineering, medical and agricultural seats but in the last two years it has made NEET as the sole entrance exam for medical and allied courses. But KEAM is applicable even today for engineering and agricultural courses. Even Karnataka, which has more medical seats than Tamil Nadu, and is also ruled by a non-BJP government, has not opposed Neet.

Stalin’s logic to draft the southern states into the anti-Neet lobby is that only eight students from all of the southern states made it in the top 50 ranks of Neet. But these states have reported a higher pass percentage than Tamil Nadu. One reason for TN's poor show could be the failure of Tamil Nadu students to comprehend the tougher CBSE syllabus based on which Neet questions are framed.

 “The state's syllabus got dumbed down following the introduction of Samacheer Kalvi in 2009. Also our students forgot how to prepare for competitive exams ever since admissions were made based only on plus two marks. The state government has thankfully woken up now by revamping the syllabus and holding special classes for government school students to prepare for Neet,” said an educationist.

 While the DMK has made NEET a prestige issue, along with various other smaller parties, the Tamil Nadu Congress has been spectacularly silent about Neet. One reason is that Neet was first mooted by the UPA government. Secondly, the SC order refusing any exemption for Tamil Nadu came after the arguments of Nalini Chidamabaram appearing for the pro-Neet petitioners from the state. This point was rubbed in by Health Minister C. Vijayabhaskar in the Assembly on Tuesday.

 Sadly, suicides in Tamil Nadu get to be glorified by political leaders always looking for victims to make the best even out of the wailings of bereavement. When the opposition leaders make a beeline with garlands for the body and speeches for the TV cameras, and the government quickly comes up with announcements of cash compensations and job offers for the kin of the dead, are they not glorifying, glamourising and even encouraging suicides?

“I would say this amounts to even perpetuating suicide as an acceptable response to failure. There seems to be, unfortunately, a weird idealism associated with such suicides. They should be, actually, making statements condemning suicides as acts of cowardice and helplessness”, said Prof Gladstone Xavier of the Department of Social Work, Loyola College, Chennai. “We must train our children to handle failure bravely and prepare for the next challenge and option; tell the child so what if you have failed Neet, that's not the end of the world and there are other options”.

Arguing his case in the Assembly for Neet abolition, Stalin had asked in dramatic distress “ how many more Anithas and Pratibhas we must witness…”

Well, a parent has come up with a poignant question in answer: “If suicides after Neet call for abolition of Neet, so many students commit suicide every year after failing in class ten and twelve exams. Do we abolish these as well?”