Masihuzzama Ansari | India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—The parents of 23 female students who studied in Delhi government schools and had cleared their NEET-2020 exams have alleged that exorbitant fees of medical colleges was the main obstacle behind the students not taking admission in the medical colleges.
The future of these students from ‘Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya’ located in Nur Nagar in Jamia Nagar area seems to be bleak despite cracking NEET exam successfully.
All the 23 aspirants are Muslim girls and yet to realize their dreams to become a medico. Some of them have even restarted their medical entrance coaching for the second time while some of them have abandoned their demands.
Their successful cracking of the exams and yet not able to take admission in the medical college is a pointer of the prevalent administration, policies and intentions of the government and raises several questions around the issue. Their parents told India Tomorrow that the Delhi government’s tom-tomming about educational development is hollow as 23 students are yet to take admission despite cracking the NEET exam. The government which never spares an opportunity for its tall claims of empowerment of Muslim women, is silent now on this issue.
Mariyam is one of the 23 lucky students to have cracked the NEET but so far has not got admission in any of the medical colleges. “My daughter did not get admission in a government college this year. She is preparing once again and hopefully she will get a seat in a government college next year as we expect a good rank,” said her mother.
Mehjabeen, another student said “I am preparing again for the entrance exam and this time I expect to get admission in a government medical college. My endeavour is to perform better than last time,” she said.
There is a huge difference between the number of students cracking NEET and the number of seats in government medical colleges. Lakhs of students crack the exams but due to rankings are weeded out of the admission process for government medical colleges which have less fees. Students cannot afford high fees of private medical colleges that runs into crores of rupees over a period of five years to complete the course. Those students who can’t afford to pay a few lakhs for coaching fees, cannot afford the private fees. Earlier some seats for the government were reserved in private colleges but the system has been broken quietly by the state itself.
Similarly, lack of control and accountability of private colleges has resulted in charging high capitation fees which the middle and lower middle class students find exorbitant and unaffordable. Delhi education minister praised the success of these students but no government representative was able to admit them in government medical colleges nor did make any effort. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced education loan of Rs 10 lakh without a collateral guarantee but the students find the amount quite less when compared with the high fees of the private medical colleges.
