The National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), a single entrance test for admission into medical colleges in the country, appears to have widened the gap between the rich and poor students.

Since being first made compulsory in 2016, the examination has seen several protests across the country and has been riddled with accusations of being elitist. The glitch lies within the percentile system introduced by the exam. Among many alleged anomalies, the one that stands out is that the exam has ushered in a money-based reservation system of sorts, that is, the haves can reserve a seat, the have-nots can’t.

What has changed?

The NEET, now, focuses on a percentile system as opposed to the previous pattern where admissions to MBBS were based on minimum cut-off marks.

Earlier, medical students took the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT), which announced minimum qualifying marks (cut-off marks) for entry into medical courses. In 2016, the admission cut-offs were 50% in general category and 40% for reserved category. This meant that a general category student would have to score at least 360 out of 720 marks to be declared successful. After 2016, this was replaced with a percentile system and to be eligible, a general category student needed to be in the 50th percentile. This meant that a student could score 145 out of 720 marks, i.e. 20%, and still be eligible for admission.

The percentile is generally kept at 50% for general category and 40% for reserved category for 60,000 MBBS seats in the country. This means roughly 10 eligible students per seat. Of these 10, the ones with the lower marks but ‘deeper pockets’ can secure admission into a private medical college while meritorious students who are unable to afford exorbitant fees of these colleges will be left out. A closer look at admission data from previous years makes this obvious.

In NEET 2017, candidates securing as low as 18.2% marks in general category and 14.8% marks in the reserved category were eligible for admissions. Similarly, in 2016, candidates securing 20.1% in the general category and 16.3% marks were able to secure admission.

Many of these low scorers were able to secure seats in MBBS colleges with significant ease if they could pay the fees. Poor students who had better scores but were unable to secure admission in a government college with reasonable fees were left in the lurch.

A report by a Parliamentary Committee tabled in the Lok Sabha in March also said that no provision has been made for minimum qualifying marks in NEET in the proposed National Medical Commission (NMC) bill. The report stated-

Unless the minimum qualifying marks are specified, a poor student who has scored 80% in the examination but does not have the means to pay the fees at a private medical college could lose the seat to a rich student who may have scored only 30% but has the means required to pay the fees.

Dissent among doctors

Many doctors who completed their MBBS before NEET was introduced have expressed dissatisfaction over the new entrance exam. The chief concern seems to be over the lack of individual subject cut-offs, due to which students scoring as low as 5% in Physics, 10% in Chemistry and 20% in Biology are eligible for admission.

Others said that NEET had benefited students by getting rid of multiple exams but added that there was an urgent need to address the issue of quality of new entrants into the medical profession as more meritorious students were being deprived of a medical education.