NEET is not student-friendly, merit-promoting

Context: Instead of de-regulation as pursued in other sectors, Educational sector is moving towards over-centralization which is a harsh and painful reality.

Issues with Centralised NEET

• Biased against poor:

• Rise in coaching culture: favoring urban students, vernacular medium and poorer students face a disadvantage. 
• Restricted choices: in terms of institute selection.

• Unfair and Opaque:

• Paper leak, translation errors have cost students their due rights.

• Incomplete idea of Meritocracy: Meritocracy requires competition and equality of opportunity. There is a need to see the multidimensional construct of meritocracy. This can be corroborated from the lack of doctor’s commitment to serve in rural areas. 

• Differential treatment:

• It denies rights under Article 30 and Article 19(g) to minority and private aided institutions.

• Article 30: The Supreme Court in various cases termed it as ‘an article of faith’, ‘sacred obligation’, ‘the conscience of the nation’, ‘an absolute right’ and part of the ‘basic structure’.

• the imposition of NEET with mandatory centralized counselling is an unreasonable restriction. Which will result in more vacant seats affecting the doctor-population ratio.

• Not absolute: Supreme Court held that this rights under Article 30 are not absolute and subject to efficiency of instruction, discipline, health, sanitation, morality, and public order.

• Under this non absoluteness of article 30, government cannot take over the entire admission process

Way Forward:

• Fair and Transparent: Centralization is not the solution to fairness and transparency. As emphasized in T.M.A. Pai Foundation case that “an admission process must be fair and transparent rather than just one test for all institutions”.
• Addressing Diversity: In Islamic Academy of Education and Another (2003), SC held that minority institution having fair and transparent process can be allowed to seek exemption from common test. 
• Resist government domination: India Universities Commission headed by Dr. S Radhakrishnan held that Exclusive control of education by State facilitates totalitarian tyrannies. We must resist it in the interest of democracy.