The Morbid After Effects Of NEET

Apart from fulfilling the dreams of all medical aspirants and contrary to its elegant sounding acronym, NEET has always been a messy and clumsy ship sailing in the muddied sea of corruption, leaks and scams.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for undergraduate courses in medical and dental colleges across India is forever surrounded in an endless sea of controversy. If you understand the chronology behind the criticisms, it is not only the most debatable exam but also a nightmare for the students and the parents.

Earlier called AIPMT (All India Pre-Medical Test), it was conducted in all States. Until the Centre took over and CBSC became in charge for two years, after which in 2019, it was handed to the NTA (National Testing Agency). After centralization the problems began, because not only did it undermine the power of the State government, the papers set in different Indian languages became a messy affair. If it was a boon for Private Schools, it was also a huge loss for the government run institutions.

This year the results were marred with allegations of irregularities and paper leak. Yet again! But what caught the attention of everyone was the inflated and crazy marking scheme. That’s because, it wasn’t just 1, 2 or 3 people who topped the All India Rank. In the rat race or contest or competition or whatever, it felt like an AI generated Robotic team of SIXTY SEVEN candidates. And ALL of them had secured a full 720/720 marks!

There were a few other discrepancies as well with the grace marks that many said was mathematically impossible; or with the fact that six students who shared the first rank had appeared from the same centre. But the more disturbing factors were something else.

When the results were suddenly released on June 4th, ten days prior to its announcement, the NTA probably assumed everyone would be busy with the elections and their fraud would go undetected. Making a mistake is one thing, but despicably trying to cover it up is so not done. Earlier there have been many such discrepancies. Some are as follows:

In 2017, five people including 2 medical students were arrested in Patna for attempting to leak the question paper.

When it was decided that NEET would be conducted in 10 languages across India, Urdu was not a part of that list.

In Warangal the candidates received question papers in English and Hindi instead of Telugu, as they were promised.

In 2018, the Calcutta High Court had to award 20 marks to a candidate when it was found that 5 questions had been wrongly translated in Bengali. There were also complaints of the Marathi question paper being different, with some stating that the difficulty level of other languages was higher than the English language. Nearly 100 students in Madurai were given question papers in Hindi.

With the release of admit cards, a fresh controversy arose when those appearing from Tamil Nadu noticed that their exam centres were not even in their state but in Rajasthan, Kerala and Karnataka. Students in Dibrugarh, Assam faced undue harassment due to the shortage of question papers.

The shocking news which got viral was of girls being asked to remove their jeans, hairpins, before entering. One girl was even forced to remove her innerwear and was stared at ‘inappropriately’. The NHRC had to issue notices for the harassment and inconvenience experienced by the female candidates for such tasteless security checks.

In yet another massive controversy, it was informed that students from NIOS and Open School Boards were not eligible. One more hurdle to cross was the age criteria. Yet another was when NEET was made mandatory for those planning to take admission in foreign universities. Earlier there were no such rules.

But all this fades in comparison to the macabre angle where children under stress started to give up. In one bizarre incident after his son ended his life following his unsuccessful attempts to clear NEET, the father also committed suicide. Ever since it began, multiple NEET aspirants have lost their precious lives because they could not clear the tests or perform better.

This year it was the same story.

20 Year old Bharat Kumar was found hanging in his room just days before his third attempt at cracking the NEET. The one-line note found in the room read:

‘Sorry Papa, main is saal bhi nahi kar paya’. The short and sad message where the boy was sorry about his unsuccessful attempts also carried a sad smiley.

A video of 18-year-old Bagisha Tiwari jumping from the ninth floor of a building after receiving her exam results went viral.

Ajit, another hopeful contender who failed in his third attempt chose to end his life. He jumped in front of a train in Dausa soon after the results were declared.

The morbid after effects of NEET is perhaps the most worrying factor. It is even more distressing than getting involved in a scam and finding out that you are one among the 67 toppers who have scored 720/720 and yet are not eligible for a seat in AIIMS. The amount of time and effort that kids put into preparing for this test is brutal. They sure deserve better. No one wants to die. Unable to cope with the pain and the pressures of a challenging world they find no other option.

All I can tell the kids is that suicide is not the way out. You are not alone in this struggle and before you take anything drastic think of all those who love and care about you. If the world is too painful, stop. And rest. Take a break because it’s okay to do that. But please don’t take your precious lives. After all, it's just an exam.

As for the demanding parents, please know that parental support and unconditional love are very important in a child’s life, ESPECIALLY during times of failure. Reaffirming your children’s self worth and encouraging them to pursue their passions and interests will enable them to navigate challenges.

This isn’t only about NEET but the entire education system. It’s about the corrupt and ineffective examination method where lives are at stake. It’s about giving our future Doctors and Engineers a matter of fair and equal opportunity. And it’s high time the authorities concerned paid more attention to how the future of our nation is affected by it. They need to be serious in resolving all the issues, because if they don’t, then millions of students will lose trust in this education system forever!

Nargis Natarajan is a writer, author and novelist residing in Bhubaneswar. Views expressed are the writer’s own.