The free online coaching through the e-Box platform commenced in November 2020 for students of government and government-aided schools, who would have appeared for the test in August 2021.

For the first time, more than 25,000 students from government schools had registered for the free coaching after 300 MBBS seats earmarked for pupils from government institutions under the 7.5 percent reservation was implemented last October. However, the number of active participants has now fallen below 3,000 due to various issues, including lockdown. In addition, the coaching was suspended in March this year in order to help students prepare for board exams.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next that authorities were earlier planning to resume NEET online coaching after the Class 11 board exams. “However, due to exams been postponed, it was decided to resume online NEET training session for the students,” he said, adding, “Accordingly, all district education officials were instructed to contact enrolled students and ensure their participation.” Stating that the resumption of the coaching was expected to start by next week, he said, “As it was planned earlier, the list of students not participating would be approached to find out their reason of discontinuing and make them enrol again.”

The official said there were several requests, especially from the rural students who were hesitating to participate in the training programme, that there was a communication gap between them and trainers since most of the interactive sessions were designed in English. “The language barrier issues will be resolved and this time the training will have more e-lectures with explanations and improvised question bank,” he said.

If the pandemic situation returns to normal, physical training classes would be conducted as the State has already identified 400 NEET training centres.