With the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) around the corner, the School Education Department’s free coaching classes for 10,832 government and aided school students is under way in 128 centres across the State.
“Though I am particular about writing NEET, I wasn’t sure I would be able to self-study as I was not familiar with these kinds of concepts. I tried learning on my own, but it wasn’t effective. This course has given me a better avenue to learn,” said Priya E., a student of the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Ashok Nagar.
The classes, which begin at 9.15 a.m. and end at 4.30 p.m., are conducted by government and aided school teachers. Every subject is taught for one and a half hour, and students also take up a mock test, which is held on Saturdays, to familiarise themselves with NEET’s pattern. Earlier, the department had sent out a direction in November to begin NEET coaching after school hours, with tests and extra classes on weekends.
Crash course
In Chennai, 371 students have enrolled for the one-month crash course, which began on March 25 at nine centres. The Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Ashok Nagar has the highest number of students registered for this course, with 203.
However, many centres now have only about 20 to 40 students since most dropped out as they were unable to cope with the studying required for NEET. “Some students also thought that their board exam performance wasn’t good enough and decided to pursue something else,” a teacher said.
This initiative was introduced in 2018. “We had to completely familiarise ourselves with the exam pattern, questions, and concepts. This required an education in itself. These notes are updated every year so that we are on top of the syllabus,” said R. Soundrapandian, a biology teacher. The teachers prepare their own materials and circulate them to help the students.
Stating that the concepts are the same, teachers agreed that it was the roundabout questions that the students were unfamiliar with. “The students are not used to these types of questions, and hence, it takes a lot of practice to tackle them,” said V. Shanthi, a chemistry teacher at Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Ambattur.
“We provide them with snacks and tea in the morning and evening. We also send questions through WhatsApp in the evening as homework on the concepts that were taught during the day. The next morning we release the answer keys for the students to cross check,” said V. Ezhilarasi, centre-in-charge at the Ashok Nagar school.
As the coaching ends on May 2, students are focusing more on botany and zoology as the questions in physics and chemistry are intimidating. “They require a lot of formulas, which we aren’t familiar with, and given the short amount of time were have before the exam, we are focusing on our strengths,” said S. Sweta, a NEET aspirant. With that in mind, the teachers at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School have extra classes only for biology after the coaching ends in the evening.
