Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore.
Seeking a full review of the medical entrance exam National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Thursday (December 4, 2025) said it has not encouraged merit but rather commercialised education by strengthening private-run “educational empires” and weakening schools.
The Virudhunagar MP from Tamil Nadu said during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha that a committee set up by the Centre has found lapses in the coaching system in the country.
Mr. Tagore said the current practice was “flawed” as it focused on only “single stakes exams” that benefited only the rich, the coaching mafia and dummy schools.
“Government school children, rural students, first generation learners, students from SC, ST and OBC communities…all have been pushed out of opportunity not because of lack of talent but because they cannot afford lakhs of rupees on coaching. “The same committee report also highlights structural failures, syllabus gaps across boards, weak formative assessments, even teacher support and rise of dummy schools, these are not accidental,” he said.
“There are reports that a central committee recommended about the conduct of JEE, NEET and CUET…the preparations begin as early as 11th grade, the panel recommended to limit coaching hours to two to three hours, hold the exams twice a year and even shift to hybrid assessment using board exams,” he said.
He demanded a full review of NEET and its impact on equity. There should also be a road map to strengthen school education and urgent measures to end the coaching nexus.
The Ministry of Education had earlier this year set up a nine-member panel to examine issues relating to coaching and the emergence of “dummy schools” besides the effectiveness and fairness of entrance examinations.
Published – December 04, 2025 09:10 pm IST
