NEET: Fewer girls in state's top 100 this year

MUMBAI: The number of girls on the state's top 100 NEET ranks' list has dropped to 28 from last year's 36. The provisional merit list for medical admissions in the state, based on all-India NEET ranks, was released last week. Students from the state, however, have done better overall as eight students from Maharashtra are in the top 100 all-India ranks, compared to four in 2017.NEET is a national-level entrance test for medical colleges in the country.
While the success rate of girls in NEET is better than that of the boys across the country, higher ranks elude them. Of the 13.26 lakh students registered for the test, 56% were girls. The success rate of girls is also around the same. While the national topper, Kalpana Kumari, is a girl, only 14 girls are in the top-50 ranks. When the state conducted its own CET, girls' performance as far as top ranks are concerned was much better. In 2008, 49 girls were in the top 100 ranks in the state entrance merit list. The numbers gradually dropped to 30s and this year, it has gone to 28.
Experts attribute the drop to the fact that fewer families allow girls to travel to far-off places for intensive coaching. A senior professor from one of the civic-run medical colleges said that parents from the state may not be wanting to send girls to places like Kota for coaching. "Some of them do not get the push required for the two-year preparation after Class X. As NEET is based on NCERT curriculum, unlike state's CET, intensive coaching may be working in favour of boys. Though the trend is changing and many families are opening to the idea of giving the same exposure to girls, a drastic shift will take time," said the professor.
Another reason cited for the trend is girls' performance in physics. Keyur Cholera from a coaching institute in the western suburbs said, "We have been noticing in the last many years that girls from our classes do equally well in chemistry and biology that are memory oriented, but lose out on higher ranks due to physics. Also, boys are too aggressive and tend to handle exam pressure better than girls. Girls otherwise do exceptionally well in all other aspects," said Cholera.
Dean of KEM Hospital and Seth GS Medical College, Dr Avinash Supe, said though he has not analysed the data on girls' performance in entrance tests, they do very well once they join MBBS course. "Many class toppers are girls and several win medals every year for their academic performance. They are more disciplined, studious and diligent. In fact, at postgraduate level, we are also seeing a shift in the choices they are making. Orthopaedic and surgery, which fewer women opted for in the past, are being preferred," said Supe.
More than 56% of the 13.26 lakh students who registered for the NEET are girls, said Dr Pravin Shingare. He said the overall success rate of girls is better than that of boys this year. "Boys make it to the top ranks as there is a lot of pressure on them. On the contrary, many girls quickly choose an alternative option if they do not make it to a good medical college," said Shingare.