NEET 2017: Paper to be available in regional languages
Competitive exams in India are always a hot debate topic. These exams give students admissions to prestigious colleges in the country which are seen as a gateway to higher paying jobs and a better standard of living. They are supposed to be selective and still not burden a student which is quite a difficult task to achieve. So, all classes of the society, students and parents take active concern in how the exam related policies take shape.
Recently, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) and the Gujarat Government have been focusing on the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for medical institutes. They have made three major announcements.
First, the NEET for medical institutes will be held in regional languages in 2017. Till last year the exam was only conducted in English and Hindi. India being the diverse country it is, there are still a lot of students who are not comfortable with English or Hindi. It isn’t fair for them to lose opportunities in the Medical field because of language barriers. Conducting the exam in regional languages will truly make it a fair platform as all students will be able to focus on learning medicine rather than on getting used to a new language.
Second, a question bank for the subjects Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics has been prepared and released by the Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB). The question bank is in Gujarati and will be translated into English soon. Coaching centers for these competitive exams are a huge menace in India. They lead to an enormous gap between the materials available to the rich and the poor students. Very often, students who can’t afford the high fees of coaching centers don’t have access to materials to prepare for the competitive exams. The CBSE textbooks do not contain questions suitable for the competitive exam patterns. So the government school board compiling this question bank will play a big role and standardizing preparation material for students. This should further help to make the exam an equal and fair platform for students from different backgrounds.
Third, they have proposed the Right to Education Act (RTE) to be expanded to include pre-primary and secondary classes as well, to improve the quality of education. The present form of the RTE covering students from 1st to 8th standard has achieved some of its goals. But a major drawback remains the fact that the students from poorer backgrounds still fall short because they don’t receive any support in the pre-primary classes. The drop-out rates in the higher secondary classes in these regions is also quite high. Given these circumstances, the government proposal sounds like a welcome change. It will support more students to get access to a good education and thus the means to earn a better future.
The Education Minister, Bhupendra-sinh Chudasama has assured that all decisions regarding NEET will be taken keeping students’ needs and concerns in mind. But the fact remains that the students are a very diverse crowd and most of them have different concerns. One hopes that the ministry is able to find a middle ground and make the education system better.
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