NEET fiasco: Students in a fix after HS top rankers fail to make it in merit list

Many Bengali medium students in the state who want to realise their dreams of becoming doctors are not sure whether they would be able to achieve their goals following the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) question paper fiasco this year.

The medical aspirants who are now studying in the Higher Secondary level have been shattered after they found that most of their top rankers failed to find a place in the merit list due to the difference in the standard of question papers.

It has been learnt from the sources that a Trinamool Congress MP will raise the issue in Parliament during the ongoing Monsoon Session attracting the attention of the Central government.

It may be mentioned here that the state government had urged the Centre to take necessary steps in this regard after the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) Board in a probe found that NEET questions set in Bengali were much difficult than those of English or Hindi.

But the Central government turned a deaf ear to the repeated appeals by the state government.

There was also a students' agitation in the state after the Bengali medium students performed pathetically in the NEET examination due to no fault of their own.

Left with no option to keep the Bengali medium schools running, the Trinamool Congress top brass have decided to raise the issue in Parliament. Bengal is not the only state that has become the victim of the incident. Various others including Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bihar and Assam have demanded an exemption on the implementation of the NEET for the next few years.

It has been learnt that out of around 56 candidates who have secured ranks in the Higher Secondary examination this year, around 10 will be able to secure a medical seat.

The previous statistics say that around 71 percent of the top rankers in the Higher

Secondary examination had got admission in medical but this year the number has drastically dropped.

A medical aspirant in the state requesting anonymity said if this goes on, none of the students will opt to pursue Higher Secondary, instead they would prefer ICSE or CBSE.

"The state government must take up the issue otherwise the Bengali medium students will not be selected for medical studies. Had there been no difference in the standards of question papers in various languages, more number of Bengali medium students would have found a place in medical," an aspirant said.