Education System in India- NEET Aspirants' Stand Against Alleged NTA Scam

You must be aware of all that’s happening in India regarding the NEET results declared by NTA recently. Many aspirants, parents and teachers are claiming that there has been a scam by NTA regarding the results. Where on the one side, more than 60 students got AIR 1 by scoring 720/720, and some students who were getting 540 according to the answer key got 250 in their mark sheets. 

There have been allegations that 8 students with AIR 1 had the same exam centre. Some students have also got 718 and 719 marks with grace markings.

While some people are asking for re-examination or re-evaluation, some are there who are leading towards depression and anxiety. 

Imagine working hard for 2 years, scoring full marks but not getting the college you dreamt about. Why? Because AIIMS Delhi, the most desired college for NEET aspirants has seats less in number than the AIR 1 rankers. Who is to be blamed here? The students, the NTA, the Government or the entire education system?

The marks which were considered good till the last year are not even enough to get a college. 

If we look into the matter closely, we can see, a huge increase in the number of NEET aspirants in our country. Not just NEET, almost every student is aspiring for some entrance exam. But the problem is, does our country even have the number of institutes to accommodate that huge number of aspirants?

Currently, there are 695 medical colleges in India with approximately 55000 seats in Government colleges. Approximately 23 lakh students did appear for the NEET exam in 2024. The probability of getting a seat in a government medical college is 0.02. Shocking, isn’t it?

Imagine giving two years (sometimes even more) of your life to be in the top 2% of the country. Sounds scary.

A similar scenario is there for IIT, CAT or CLAT entrances as well. The point that should be noted here is, that every year, more than 90 % of the aspirants are there who don’t get into the college they want, take a year drop and start preparing again and there are many students who even take 2-3 years of drop just to clear an entrance for their dream career.

Parents in India have had this mentality forever that their child must do a mainstream job like a doctor, engineer, civil service etc. They sometimes don’t even care about the child’s interests and capabilities. They want their child to be in the top 2%, so they send their kids to fight for that top 2% and in the process, make their child suffer from failure, anxiety, depression etc.

Blaming parents is also not enough. India doesn’t have an education system which focuses on children’s interests and well-being instead of only academics. So, it's important that rather than doing what others want, students actually do what they want. They should go for a career they would love to do, be it some mainstream job like a doctor or a sidelined job like a writer.

As Nelson Mandela said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, a country does well only if its youth has a good education, a healthy environment and a happy life.

This is high time people need to understand, that being in a certain career won’t make you successful. Instead, success needs you to do the work you love, enjoy and are passionate about. A healthy competition is needed, but every competition is not worth fighting for. 

Till then, Let's hope NTA, education ministry of whoever concerned look into the matter and things become easier for the NEET aspirants.

Written by: Nidhi Jha