NEET fiasco isn’t just about broken dreams. It’s pushing lakhs of families into poverty

Families who sank their life savings and took on debt to fund their children’s NEET dreams are paying a high price for their aspirations.

NEET aspirant Kanakpriya, 22, holds up her scorecard. For over 2 years, her father Virender Verma (left) contributed half his monthly earnings as a construction worker for her coaching alone | Photo: Anisha Nehra | ThePrint

New Delhi: When Kanakpriya fell ill shortly after birth, her father, Virender Verma, rushed her to a nearby health centre in their village in Bihar’s Rohtas district. The doctor saved Kanakpriya and Verma, a mason, took a pledge beyond his means: his daughter would become a doctor, the first in their community.

Twenty-two years later, as Kanakpriya stood on the brink of fulfilling her father’s dream, the NEET paper leak scandal shattered her aspirations and devastated her parents.

The death of the NEET dream isn’t just about broken ambitions but also one that is pushing lakhs of families into poverty. Parents invest lifelong savings in tuitions, coaching institutes, and study materials, often accruing debts running into lakhs of rupees. Many modest-income families are driven into financial distress in the race for a top NEET score for medical college admissions.

Now, with the National Testing Agency (NTA)’s relentless cycle of tests and retests, these families are sinking deeper into the quicksand of old loan repayments and the burden of new ones.

To pursue this dream, Kanakpriya’s family had sacrificed other aspirations. Her father took loans, her mother sold her jewellery, and Kanakpriya dedicated four years of her life to exam preparation. Their hard work and sacrifices were supposed to pay off, but the system failed them.

For two years, Verma spent half of his monthly income of Rs 25,000 on EMIs for Kanakpriya’s coaching. He also took out EMIs to fund a tablet and other necessary study materials, which he is still paying off. Over the same period, his expenses on stationery, transportation, and books ballooned to Rs 5 lakh.

There are dozens of her textbooks stacked in the family’s half-built house in Delhi’s Najafgarh, where they migrated many years ago.

The Vermas’ house in Delhi’s Najafgarh is still only half-finished, with bare brick walls | Photo: Anisha Nehra | ThePrint

“I did not have the capability, but I had the ambition. In my village, people don’t even teach the boys. It was a big step for me to put all my life’s earnings and savings into my daughter’s NEET preparation, and now I feel cheated by the system,” Verma said.

Kanakpriya had topped every class till Class 12. Her father, who had no formal education and knew little about the medical field, would go around asking people about how to get admission to a college. He even visited clinics, posing as a patient, just to learn how doctors become doctors.

“I used to tell them that I am not here for treatment but I want to know how to become a doctor — because I want my daughter to become one,” he said.

Through his enquiries, Verma learned that his daughter had to take Physics, Chemistry, and Biology in Class 12 to appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET for undergraduate courses. And another harsh reality sunk in: none of it would be possible without coaching classes and their hefty fees.

“I only had Rs 25,000-30,000 in my account, but I went to the coaching institute. There were people from the bank who were financing the fees, so I could convert them into EMIs. This is what I did,” Verma said with a mix of pride and resignation.

They came tantalisingly close to success.

“I don’t have as many clothes as I have books,” Kanakpriya said, holding out her NEET scorecard. She scored 631 marks out of 720, but this ordinarily good score doesn’t cut it this year.

I feel like a loser, even after getting a decent score. I have realised that the MBBS dream is for those who are rich. I can’t afford it. But I will live with this broken part of my heart that wants to become a doctor

-Ansh Arora, NEET aspirant

The NEET UG 2024 results have been marred by unprecedented issues, including paper leaks, grace marks, an unusual number of perfect scores, and a drastic increase in the cut-off compared to the previous year. Experts have said that rank inflation is five times higher compared to last year, leaving even students with high scores out in the cold.

For many Indian families, the medical profession is a pathway to better social status and prestige. Young shoulders buckle under the weight of expectation, spending year after year in an endless grind. Parents, meanwhile, become financial contortionists, juggling loans, coaching fees, and a shoestring budget. But when the system crumbles, like this year, these families are left in ruins, with no money to secure their future, let alone their children’s.

This year, around 24 lakh students applied for NEET, up from 12 lakh just five years ago. And with the growing cutthroat competition, more and more aspirants are enrolling in coaching institutes.

“We are seeing a hike in numbers of admissions every year. Almost 90 per cent of the people who come from humble backgrounds opt for the EMI options for fee depositing,” said a faculty member of Aakash Institute, a coaching chain. The result, often, is that the debt outlives the dream.

 

Rank despair

For two years after leaving his home in Amritsar, 20-year-old Ansh Arora lived like a NEET ascetic in Delhi, studying 14-15 hours a day, scraping together basic meals, and pouring his entire being into his textbooks.

“All of my days used to be the same. Only my books and topics were changing. I used to walk to my coaching institute for 2 km so I could save Rs 10,” said Arora.

But even his dedication could not bridge the gap between his score of 610 and a coveted medical seat.

“It means nothing in the present scenario,” he said.

Kanakpriya at her desk. She is still clinging to her lifelong ambition of being a doctor, but does not want to lose another year to preparing for NEET | Photo: Anisha Nehra | ThePrint

Arora has been preparing for this exam since completing Class 10 in 2020. He was determined even though most of his father’s meagre savings and earnings as an autorickshaw driver went toward his ailing brother’s medical treatment.

Everyone insisted clearing NEET was impossible without coaching in Kota, but his family couldn’t afford it. Instead, Arora sought help from an NGO and relatives who loaned money so he could come to Delhi for preparation.

“We did not even have money for flour at my home. My relatives sponsored half of my coaching fees. Now they taunt my family that they wasted their money on me. I feel like a loser, even after getting a decent score,” Arora said.

Last year, he scored 590 marks but couldn’t get admission into a medical college. This year, he quietly prepared and appeared again. His score improved, but his situation did not.

My husband works in a private company. He saved for (our daughter’s) coaching fees, and it was my duty to provide the rent. I worked day and night but received nothing in the end

-Seema Devi, tailor & parent of a NEET aspirant

“I was not only preparing to become a doctor,” he said. “I wanted to break the cycle of poverty which my family is facing. My brother died after a long illness, and my father also died. It’s just me and my mother now.”

Arora now gives online tuition to earn money.

“A student who comes from a middle-class family battles many fights apart from the cruel cycle of studying,” he added.

This year, due to anomalies in the scoring, rank inflation has gone through the roof. By one estimate, a student with 650 marks would have got a rank of 29,000 this year, compared to 4,246 and 3,921 in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Graphic: Prajna Ghosh | ThePrint

“640-650 is normally a great score in NEET. Last year, students with these marks would have achieved a rank of around 10,000 but now they are getting 30,000-40,000 ranks,” Alakh Pandey, founder of ed-tech platform Physics Wallah had earlier said.

After the irregularities in the results, many students and parents came on the streets in protest. Some also approached the Supreme Court for a re-test. On 23 June, the NTA conducted a retest for 1,563 students who were given grace marks. Only 52 per cent appeared, while the rest accepted their original scores without the grace marks.

This retest did not make any noticeable difference in ranks, leading to continued demands from activists, aspirants, and parents for a complete re-conduction of the exam.

Parent to protester

A few weeks ago, 40-year-old Seema Devi was just another parent and tailor in her Gurugram neighbourhood. But after the NEET results, she’s taken on a new identity—that of a protester. Now, wherever there’s a NEET-related demonstration—be it at Jantar Mantar, the NTA office, or the education ministry—Seema Devi is there.

“The whole matter is about the paper leak. It is established that a paper leak happened, and the police arrested a lot of people from different places. It’s clearly unfair to our children who studied hard and scored well but still can’t get admission to a medical college,” she said.

Her 20-year-old daughter Nidhi scored 640 but fell into depression after seeing her rank. Nidhi had spent two years in Kota, treadmilling for the exam. Meanwhile, Seema saved every rupee she could by stitching clothes until late into the night so she could pay Rs 15,000 each month as just her daughter’s rent in Kota.

NEET applicants and doctors protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on 13 June to demand reconduct of exam | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

“My husband works in a private company. He saved for her coaching fees, and it was my duty to provide the rent. I worked day and night but received nothing in the end,” Seema said. “Even my daughter is not well. The result has devastated her.”

While Seema rallies for a re-test at protest sites, Nidhi is back at the study table. Her mother wants her to be prepared if the exam is held again. They are waiting for 8 July when a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will hear the matter.

“I still hope that if the exam happens again, my daughter will get a good score and gain admission to a medical college,” Seema said. “Her health is suffering. I want her to get better at any cost.”

The price of aspiration

The rigorous preparation for NEET takes a toll on aspirants’ mental and physical health. They spend hours hunched over their books and, if they live away from their families, eat unhealthy food from outside with no time to cook. Then, there’s the constant do-or-die stress. All of this impacts their health.

Ansh Arora was admitted to the hospital twice during his two years of preparation. He developed a cervical problem, gained weight, and his eyesight became weak.

“I had food poisoning and got admitted to the hospital, but the fear of the exam was so extreme that I was studying there too, even though my hands were shaking,” said Arora. “All the problems you expect to happen in your old age are happening to me now. I used to study like a machine.”

For NEET aspirants like Kanakpriya, studying for 14 hours a day is typical, with textbooks and notes as their constant companions | Photo: Anisha Nehra | ThePrint

Arora used to eat his breakfast at 6 am so he could study without taking a break for food. His eyesight was perfect before he started preparing for the NEET, but 14-hour days of squinting at textbooks and attending online lectures led to vision problems and constant neck pain.

“We see students come in healthy, both mentally and physically, but the preparation is so cruel,” said a teacher from a coaching institute in Kota, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They are just kids, 16-17 years old, some even 15. Most of them suffer from the same problems. They experience food poisoning, anxiety issues, back pain, but the exam doesn’t let them realise that it is too soon for them to have these problems.”

I will sell my house and work day and night. But my daughter will become a doctor only. I will send her to a foreign country to study medicine.

-Virender Verma, father of NEET aspirant Kanakpriya

–

Bhawna Singh, a 19-year-old from Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, lost 5 kg in the past year. She left home for the first time to prepare for NEET in Kota. She paid Rs 5,000 monthly for three meals, but the quality remained poor despite several complaints.

“The situation wasn’t changing, so I changed my expectations and compromised. But it impacted my health. I lost weight and my immunity also weakened,” said Singh, who has gone to Kota again for her second attempt.

At home, Singh’s mother, who asked not to be named, frets about the real cost of the NEET marathon. She says becoming a doctor is not worth jeopardising her daughter’s health. Money can be regained, but losing health could impact her daughter’s entire future.

“We have invested a large amount of our savings in her studies. But if she is not well, then nothing matters,” she said.

Now Ansh Arora is back in Amritsar with his mother, taking responsibility for the entire household. But the pain remains. He is unsure if he will attempt NEET again as his biggest concern presently is finding a better-paying job.

“I have realised that the MBBS dream is for those who are rich. I can’t afford it. But I will live with this broken part of my heart that wants to become a doctor,” he said.

A photo album showcases Kanakpriya’s childhood achievements. Her father now says she can fulfill her potential anywhere but in India | Photo: Anisha Nehra | ThePrint

Unlike Arora, Virender Verma is not ready to give up his and his daughter’s dream. He is stubborn. He says that his daughter will become a doctor, nothing else. He talks about sending her abroad—to countries like Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Germany—even if it means selling whatever little he owns.

“I will sell my house and work day and night. But my daughter will become a doctor only. I will send her to a foreign country to study medicine. I fought a long battle with society and my relatives. If she opts for any other profession, it will be her and my defeat,” Verma said, looking at Kanakpriya, who smiled back.

She, too, wants to try her luck abroad. She has reached the end of her tether with NEET.

“It was my best performance. I can’t drop another year,” she said, her eyes welling up. “The system of this country is a mess. I will go to another country and become a doctor and will not come back here.”

(Edited by Asavari Singh)