Dr Anjali Garg's Journey From NEET To Cracking UPSC Is Inspiring
That's exactly what Dr. Anjali Garg did. At 28, this young doctor from Chandigarh proved that with grit and purpose, no dream is too big. Her story is a testament to determination, perseverance and hard work.
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
SC urges coaching centres to appoint counsellors, train staff for students
The Supreme Court on Friday issued fifteen guidelines aimed at safeguarding the mental health of students in schools, colleges, and coaching centres across India. This includes appointing one qualified counsellor, psychologist, or social worker trained in child and adolescent mental health. Calling out the relentless academic pressure and rising cases of student suicides, the apex court observed that 'the very soul of education appears to have been distorted.' 'Increasingly, education is perceived as a high-stakes race, a pressure-laden path toward narrowly defined goals of achievement, status, and economic security,' the court said, adding that the joy of learning has been replaced by anxiety over rankings, results, and relentless performance metrics. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta made these remarks while deciding a case involving the death of a 17-year-old NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) aspirant, who died under suspicious circumstances after falling from the terrace of her hostel in Visakhapatnam, where she was undergoing coaching at Aakash Byju's Institute. Taking note of the growing mental health crisis among students, especially those preparing for competitive exams, the court issued 15 binding guidelines. It directed all educational institutions to adopt and implement a uniform mental health policy, to be reviewed and updated annually, and made publicly available on institutional websites and notice boards. The apex court also ruled that institutions with 100 or more students must appoint at least one qualified counsellor, psychologist, or social worker trained in child and adolescent mental health. Apart from these, the court also directed institutions to maintain optimal student-to-counsellor ratios and told coaching centres to avoid batch segregation based on performance, public shaming, or setting academic targets disproportionate to a student's capacity. Further, mandatory mental health training twice a year for all teaching and non-teaching staff, focusing on psychological first-aid, identifying warning signs, and referral protocols, has also been mandated by the apex court. Staff must also be trained to engage sensitively with students from marginalised backgrounds, including those from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, other backward castes, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities, students with disabilities or trauma histories, the order said. In particular, the court singled out major coaching hubs including Kota, Jaipur, Sikar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Mumbai, where students migrate in large numbers and where the pressure to perform has led to a spate of suicides. These cities must implement heightened mental health protections, it said. The judgment came on a plea by the deceased student's father, who sought a CBI investigation after the Andhra Pradesh High Court declined his request. The Supreme Court allowed the transfer of the probe to the CBI, citing serious lapses by local police and institutional authorities in handling the case and evidence. In further directions, the court ordered States and Union Territories to notify rules within two months mandating registration, student protection norms, and grievance redressal mechanisms for private coaching centres. It also directed the formation of district-level monitoring committees, chaired by District Magistrates, to oversee implementation and handle complaints. The court has also asked the Union to file a compliance affidavit within 90 days, detailing steps taken, coordination with states, regulatory measures, and the timeline for the report of the National Task Force on student mental health.
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
MBBS/BDS merit list released, counselling to begin on July 30
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Friday released the merit list for admission to the MBBS and BDS courses. Offline counselling for the special category candidates — sportspersons, children of ex-servicemen, persons with benchmark disabilities — and 7.5% reservation for government school students and online counselling for the general category will begin on July 30. The in-person counselling will be held at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital, Omandurar Government Estate. The Selection Committee under the Directorate of Medical Education and Research had received applications for admission to MBBS/BDS from June 6 to 29. This year, it received 72,743 applications, 29,680 more than last year, Mr. Subramanian told reporters. During the scrutiny of the certificates, the Selection Committee first identified 20 applicants who had submitted fake certificates. Now, five more candidates were identified for submitting fake documents. These documents included community certificates, nativity certificates, birth certificates, and NRI embassy certificates. The candidature of these applicants had been cancelled, he said. A total of 4,281 applications were received for the 7.5% reservation. There were 477 applications in the sportspersons category, 642 in the children of ex-servicemen category, and 148 in the persons with benchmark disabilities category. A total of 6,600 MBBS seats are available at the government medical colleges and under the government quota at self-financing medical colleges, while there are 1,583 BDS seats at the government dental colleges and under the government quota at self-financing dental colleges. A total of 42,315 applications were received for the government quota seats, of which 39,853 (13,998 boys and 25,855 girls) were eligible. Under the 7.5% reservation, 495 MBBS seats were available at government medical colleges and under the government quota at self-financing colleges. A total of 119 BDS seats were available under this category. Of the 4,281 applications received in this category, 4,062 candidates (1,136 boys and 2,926 girls) were found eligible. A total of 1,144 MBBS seats and 515 BDS seats are available under the management quota at self-financing colleges. A total of 592 medical seats and 15 BDS seats are available under the NRI quota at self-financing colleges. Of the 33,692 applications received under the management quota, 9,737 boys and 18,542 girls were found eligible. The Minister also released the merit list for the allied healthcare courses. The topper With a NEET score of 665, Soorya Narayanan S., of Tirunelveli, topped the government quota merit list. He was followed by Abhineet Nagaraj, of Salem, who secured 655 marks, while Hruthik Vijaya Raja K.S., of Tiruppur, was in the third place with a score of 653. In the merit list for the 7.5% reservation, Thirumurthy V., of the Kallakurichi district government model school, topped the list with a NEET score of 572. Sathish Kumar M., of the Krishnagiri district government model school, came second with a score of 563. In the third rank was Madhumitha M., of the Kallakurichi district government model school, with a score of 551. There would be 50 fewer MBBS seats this year as the intake of PSP Medical College has dropped. A total of 11,850 MBBS and BDS seats are available in the State. The second attempt For most of the eligible candidates across the categories this year, this was their second attempt at NEET. Of the 39,583 applicants under the government quota, 15,119 had cleared NEET in their second attempt. A total of 12,354 candidates cleared the test in their first attempt, while it was the third attempt for 8,381 candidates. Under the 7.5% reservation category, of the total 4,062 candidates, it was the second attempt for 1,524 applicants and the third attempt for 1,259 candidates. For 859 candidates, it was the first attempt. Under the management quota, 11,182 cleared NEET in the second attempt, while 10,027 cleared the exam in the first attempt. Health Secretary P. Senthil Kumar, Director of Medical Education (full additional charge) E. Theranirajan, and officials of the Directorate of Medical Education were present.
The Hindu
a day ago
- The Hindu
Students and Parents' body in Puducherry demands more exam centres for NEET PG scheduled for August 3
The Pondicherry State Student and Parents' Welfare Association has urged the Union Health Ministry to designate more regional examination centres for the Postgraduate Medicine MD/MS NEET 2025-26 scheduled for August 3. In a memorandum to Abhijat Sheth, President of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, V. Bala Balasubramanian, Association president, pointed out that as per a Supreme Court directive, the NBEMS had scheduled the examination in a single shift at various centres across States. In this regard, the memorandum stated that there were very few centres for PG Medicine MD/MS NEET 2025-26 in the Union Territory of Puducherry which has a complement of about 465 seats. These seats were spread across institutions, including three private medical colleges, four deemed universities and one government medical college. In the Union Territory, more than 2,000 students have registered for the PG examination while only four centres were available — one each in Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. As a result, many students have been allotted examination centres in other States, some centres located more than 1,000 km away from their hometown. The memorandum urged the authorities to facilitate additional examination centres in and around the Union Territory to enable the candidates to attend the examination in or at least nearer to their respective hometowns. In Tamil Nadu too, there were about 2,765 medical seats in government, private and deemed universities for which around 20,000 doctors have registered to write the NEET PG Medical Examination 2025-26. Even though there were 24 examination centres in Tamil Nadu, about 5,000 students have been allotted centres in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and a few other States. The Association urged the NBE to favourably consider the plea by increasing examination centres for the PG Medicine entrance examination in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry so that doctors from the region can take the exams in locations relatively closer to their hometowns. This would greatly help alleviate mental distress and inconvenience for the doctors aspiring for the PG examination, the Association said.
