TN: Govt Coaching Centres for NEET yet to attract students

Chennai: With the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) becoming an inevitability for admission to medical colleges, the government is trying to draw a maximum number of students to coaching classes being conducted by it.

312 coaching centres were opened on Saturday across the state by the School Education Department however, not many showed up at the inaugural day. The low turn out was attributed by some teachers to the oncoming Plus two board examination on March 1; Sunday to had weak attendance,

"While we had a good number of students attending the day-long coaching class on Saturday, the turnout has been low today. Many students informed us that they would be missing the class to prepare for the revision exams ahead of the board exams, which start in less than two weeks," a School Coordinator, where there were only about 10 students told the Hindu. An Ashok Nagar School had a mere 15 in attendance.

According to the Co-ordinators, the crowds would swell after the plus two exams when NEET coaching will be held every day for a whole month, prior to the NEET entrance test.The numbers would swell only after the end of the board exams when the classes would be held daily till the National Eligibility Entrance Test.

 

Coaching classes are being held both in English and Tamil and students have requested that separate sessions be held for both languages once the exam draws closer.

"The English medium classes are generally for about three hours and the rest are in Tamil. So the English medium students are finding it hard to follow concepts in Physics and Chemistry," a teacher said.

Another aspirant was not sure whether classes for NEET coaching would be held, next weekend, with the board exam on their heads.

"We're expecting classes every day after the exams are over for a month before NEET on May 6," she told the

Hindu.

Besides the month-long coaching class planned after the school boards, the School Education Department is working out a plan for an intensive residential coaching program for outstanding school performers.

These coaching classes will be held in medical colleges across the State, said, officials.

2017 saw a 100 coaching centres inaugurated by the department. According to officials, over 20,000 students have decided to take coaching at these centres, and more enrollments are likely, as the NEET exam draws closer.