Coimbatore: Twenty-year-old J Dharani, a student of the Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School at RS Puram, was worried ever since the results of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was announced in October.
Even though she scored 461 marks, Dharani was apprehensive that she might not get admission to a medical college this year as the cut-off mark to get admission was 474 last year. But now, she is confident, thanks to the state government for providing 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students.
Like Dharani, 21 government school students, including three from corporation schools, are now eligible to apply for medical admission. Those who had scored above 113 marks in the examination are eligible to apply, according to officials of the office of chief educational officer (CEO).
“Only three of the 21 students had attempted the examination several times. Most of the students had either attended the NEET training conducted by the state government or studied on their own,” an official said.
Dharani had been taking the examination for the last four years. She studied on her own for three years. As she could not even get 300 marks, she joined a private coaching centre in 2019 after she obtained a scholarship. “With the introduction of horizontal reservation, many government school students can become doctors. It is difficult to compete with private school students and those who have undergone coaching. The NEET syllabus is different from Class XII syllabus and is vast. We need someone at least to tell us what to read and how to read. It took me years to learn the tricks to prepare for the examination,” she said.
J Swetha Bhagyam, a student of the Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School at Ramakrishnapuram, scored 142 marks in the first attempt by studying Class XI and XII books. “My father is working in a private company and earns Rs 14,000 per month. I cannot enrol in a private coaching centre and could not attend the training provided by the state government. So, I studied on my own with the help of my teachers,” she said. “If I don’t get admission to a medical college this year, I would do a BSc course because I can’t afford to take a break to prepare for the exam.”
An official with the education wing of the city corporation said, “As many as 241 students took Biology group in corporation schools last year and eight underwent NEET training provided by the government. With the reservation in place, we hope many students would come forward to study Biology and take NEET.”