TN Bill against NEET Exam: What does the AK Rajan led Expert Committee report say about Medical Entrance Exam?

Tamil Nadu Govt’s new Law against NEET Exam: Tamil Nadu state government has continued its fight against the NEET 2021 i.e. National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET exam by passing a bill that bans the medical entrance exam in the state. The Bill passed by the Tamil Nadu State Assembly has sought exemption from the centralised exam for its students. It demands admission of students based on class 12 marks instead of NEET. The TN NEET Bill which banned the entrance test was passed on the basis of an Expert Committee Report led by Retired Justice AK Rajan. Let’s find out what did the AK Rajan led Expert Committee report say about Medical Entrance Exam and how it may impact the medical profession in future.

Expert Committee Appointed by TN Govt

Before discussing what did the expert committee say, it is equally important to understand why the committee was appointed and especially by whom. Following incidents of student suicides around the NEET UG medical entrance exam, the Tamil Nadu state government decided to appoint an expert committee to understand the impact of the screening test on the aspirants. The committee was led by Justice AK Rajan. It was formed to study the socio-economic impact of NEET. The Tamil Nadu committee had eight members and it included several eminent people such as Dr. GR Ravindranath, State Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan, Narayana Babu who is the Director of Medical Education, and others.

After completing a thorough study of the exam model and how the medical education sphere operates, the committee released a 165-page report titled “Report of the High-Level Committee To Study The Impact of NEET on Medical Admissions in Tamil Nadu”.

Key findings of AK Rajan Committee Report on NEET

Now that we have all the details, let's come to the crux of the matter, i.e. the findings of the AK Rajan Expert committee report on the NEET Medical Exam. During the introductory section of the report, Mr Rajan noted that the national level medical entrance exam ignores the ‘diverse societal representation in MBBS and higher medical studies’. It further states that the NEET exam only favours the ‘affordable and affluent segment of the society’ while denying students from underprivileged social groups the opportunity to pursue medical education.

Another important aspect of the AK Rajan Expert Committee report also focused on the NEET exam preparation industry that has emerged following the advent of the centralized entrance exam and admission system. The committee report states that in Tamil Nadu itself, over 400 coaching firms that exist solely focus on NEET preparation. This amounts to Rs 5,750 crore in terms of revenue for these firms. The report also stated that more than 95% of students in the state cannot afford private coaching. Other important highlights of the report are discussed below:

• Aspirants who take coaching or are repeaters have a higher success ratio in NEET Exam
• In 2020, 99% of aspirants who appeared for NEET took private coaching
• Of the total appeared candidates, 71% were repeater candidates
• Students from State Board saw a sharp downfall in MBBS Admission post need i.e. from 65% to 43.13%
• 30% increase of MBBS aspirants from CBSE Board
• Participation of English Medium Students in NEET increased from 56.02% to 69.53%
• Sharp down of 12% noted in participation of students from Rural Background
• In post NEET scenario, the committee noted that 70% of students when they finish their PG course chose to work with private corporate hospitals. Before NEET, over 70% of students passing out of medical colleges choose to work for govt hospitals.

Highlighting major warning signs with NEET 2021 medical entrance exam, the Expert committee noted that If NEET continues for a few more years, “the health care system of Tamil Nadu will be very badly affected,” and may even go back to the pre-Independence era. The report noted that the exam is skewed towards wealthy families and is a major robust public health system prevailing in Tamil Nadu.