Promoting mediocrity

With reference to “Neet 2017: Centre to consider 1-year exemption for TN, says Sitharaman” (August 14), the Tamil Nadu government opting for the ordinance route to get exemption for its students from the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for the current year is a retrograde step. It was in the 1970s when the rot began to set in in the state’s professional education sector, with seats in government medical and engineering colleges being sold in the open market, at the cost of merit. It even prompted the Supreme Court to express dismay “at the spectacle of students who scored very high marks in the qualifying state board examination, scoring low marks in the interview and failing to get admission into professional courses”. Years of corruption and mishandling resulted in students, especially engineering graduates from the state, being found to be “among the least employable” in India’s IT sector, which witnessed spectacular growth in the past few decades.

NEET was introduced to “streamline the process of admission into MBBS and BDS courses and to act as a gateway to deserving applicants to get admission at the best colleges of India”. Instead of taking steps to equip students to compete with their counterparts from other states on an equal footing, the state government’s attempt to shield its students from the exam will only perpetuate mediocrity and backwardness, further endangering their future. The state’s politicians should realise that they cannot make the weak strong by making the strong weak!