The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) has become a sacred ritual in India, defining the worth of millions of young minds. It is as though a student’s entire future hinges on this single exam, their self-worth tied to a rank. This obsession has poisoned our society. We’ve created a system where if you don’t clear NEET, you’re considered a failure.
The relentless pressure has transformed education into a marketplace of fear, where coaching centres act as vultures, preying on the anxiety of students and families alike. This is not just an examination; it is a brutal game designed to break the spirit of those who play it.In the eyes of society, the exam isn’t just a test of knowledge—it is a defining moment, a measure of worth, and often, the only ticket to a respectable future. But beneath this narrative lies a harsh truth: the obsession with NEET is not just a failure of education; it is a failure of society itself.
Parents, teachers, and even peers build an invisible but unyielding wall around students, one that says: “If you don’t crack NEET, you’ve failed.” This is a grim, suffocating reality for millions of young minds, many of whom live in constant fear of disappointing their families or being judged by society.
Students are often pushed into a relentless cycle of preparation, burning themselves out with long hours of studying, desperate to prove their worth through a single exam. What begins as a dream can quickly morph into a nightmare—a nightmare filled with stress, anxiety, and an overwhelming sense of inadequacy when the results don’t go as planned.
The problem is not the exam itself but how it has become a symbol of success. A stamp of approval that carries more weight than years of hard work, creativity, and passion. In a society obsessed with rankings and exams, a student’s value is reduced to a single test score. And in this race, if you don’t make it to the finish line, you are branded as a failure, your future questioned, your potential dismissed. The story is all too familiar: students are left feeling empty, as though they are nothing more than a failure in the eyes of society.
Now, let’s talk about the real beneficiaries of this toxic culture: the coaching industry. In the past decade, coaching centers have grown into a billion-dollar industry, exploiting the very fears they have helped amplify. They prey on the desperation of students, presenting themselves as the only lifeline in a system that demands perfection. The reality? These centers thrive on the fear of failure they instill. The more terrified students are, the more they will pay for promises of success.
Coaching institutes often sell dreams that have no real basis. Their advertising is slick, full of images of smiling students, success stories, and promises of guaranteed results. In truth, these institutes are nothing more than factories that churn out stressed, anxious students who are left with nothing but empty promises when they don’t make it through.
They demand exorbitant fees, set impossible expectations, and trap students in an endless cycle of preparation. Even worse, some coaching institutes only reinforce the myth that NEET is the only path to success, leading students to believe that their entire future is riding on their ability to crack this one exam. The entire industry feeds on this fear, growing stronger as the pressure mounts.
We often forget that these coaching centers are businesses first, education providers second. They have no interest in the well-being of the students they “train.” They capitalize on a broken system that forces children to put their mental health and emotional stability on the line in exchange for a chance at success. The longer the fear persists, the more money they make. It is a vicious cycle that feeds on anxiety and the desperation of students—and it’s one that has only worsened over the years.
The design of the NEET system itself is inherently flawed. The exam is rigorous, yes, but it’s also designed to be exclusionary. It pits millions of hopefuls against each other for a limited number of seats, creating an environment where only the most resourceful, most privileged, or most “perfect” candidates make it through.
The pressure on students is overwhelming, and for many, it becomes an all-consuming obsession. The emotional toll it takes on students is often brushed aside, as the focus remains solely on getting a rank. But mental health issues are rampant—anxiety, depression, and even suicides have been linked to the intense pressure of NEET. Yet, nothing changes.
This competitive system is built on an unrealistic expectation of success. NEET has become a one-size-fits-all measure of capability, ignoring the fact that intelligence, ambition, and talent cannot be reduced to a set of multiple-choice questions. It ignores the different learning styles, the different interests, and the many other talents that children may possess. What about those who excel in creativity, leadership, or other fields? Society tells them that these qualities don’t matter unless they can clear the NEET exam.
The system’s single-minded focus on NEET as the ultimate achievement is a reflection of a much broader societal issue—our obsession with one-size-fits-all solutions. We fail to recognize that every student is unique, with their own path to success. NEET has become a brutal, unforgiving gauge, and for the millions who do not make the cut, it leaves them with shattered dreams and a sense of failure that is hard to overcome.
The NEET system, while necessary for ensuring some level of standardization, needs immediate reform. It is time to rethink how we evaluate the future of our students. The pressure cooker model is damaging, and the coaching mafia is profiting off of it. We need a system that not only tests knowledge but also considers the mental health, emotional stability, and well-being of the students who take it.
One possible reform is to introduce a cap on the number of attempts allowed in NEET. While it is tempting to think that more attempts equal more chances, the reality is that many students fall into the trap of taking multiple years to clear the exam, often at the cost of their mental health and confidence. Limiting attempts can encourage students to plan their preparation better, and to recognize that life does not revolve around a single exam. It would help end the vicious cycle that leads to the coaching industry’s stranglehold on students and parents.
Additionally, it is essential to make mental health support and career counseling an integral part of the NEET preparation process. Every coaching center, every school, and every exam center should have access to trained counselors who can help students deal with the intense pressure they face. Career counseling should be introduced earlier in the educational system so that students are aware of the myriad career options beyond medicine, and understand that success does not depend on a single exam.
NEET is not the end. It is one part of a much larger picture. Our society must stop treating it as a defining moment in a student’s life. Success should not be measured by the ability to clear a single exam; it should be measured by one’s passion, resilience, and the ability to find joy in what they do.
Our education system needs to evolve, to recognize the uniqueness of each student, and to provide them with the tools and resources they need to find their own path. NEET should not define them. And neither should the society that pressures them to succeed at all costs.
It’s time we look beyond the exam and start looking at the person behind the score. Only then can we begin to dismantle the harmful system that has been built around the myth of NEET success and create an education system that values mental health, diversity, and the individual journey. The world is bigger than one exam, and it’s time we all started remembering that.
(Author is Undergraduate Student at the University Of Delhi and can be reached at: [email protected]. X (Formerly twitter): @daniyaal_tweets)
