Need counselling to stem NEET suicides

A day before the nation prepared to take the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) on Sunday, there were three deaths by suicide in quick succession in Tamil Nadu.

A day before the nation prepared to take the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) on Sunday, there were three deaths by suicide in quick succession in Tamil Nadu. While a 19-year-old killed herself in Madurai, allegedly due to NEET-related stress, two others between 19 and 21 years followed suit in Namakkal and Dharmapuri.

These suicides were reported just when the state’s Ariyalur district became the eye of a political storm when a 19-year-old NEET aspirant jumped into a well last week. His village is close to where the suicide of Anitha, a poor Dalit girl, three years ago sparked off a wave of anti-NEET protests across the state.

The spate of suicides has also thrown political leaders into a tizzy. But glorifying Anitha’s suicide and observing her ‘martyrdom’ is another trigger that should have been nipped in the bud. Many political parties in Tamil Nadu have all along been rallying for scrapping NEET, saying it will widen the social divide in the education sector.

They have been demanding that board exam marks be made the criterion for admission to medical colleges. This had even led to the state government coming out with the Tamil Nadu Admission to MBBS and BDS Courses Bill, 2017. But it was withheld by the President in September 2017.

When disbanding of NEET was becoming a distant option, the government started free coaching classes to help students handle the test. But the pandemic only widened the chasm. The crisis has affected the coaching schedule. When the announcement of holding the exams in a sanitised atmosphere by the National Testing Agency came out, there was a scurry to resume online coaching.

But despite all efforts, the social and digital divide widened. NEET took place at 238 centres across the state, but this year, there was a 12.4% decline in enrolment for the exam in the state as opposed to a 5% dip in the country. What can be done to address the issue? A way forward can be including counselling along with the free coaching classes to help students handle stress better.