Once a producer of State toppers, Namakkal makes a NEET national comeback Premium

Top NEET coaching centres in Namakkal district offer rigorous training, hostel facilities, and exceptional results for medical entrance exams.

The bell rang promptly at 12.45 p.m. The deafening sound shattered the silence in the grand hallway, and scores of boys emerged from their classrooms holding stainless steel plates to break for lunch.

They instinctively formed a line, and headed for the canteen — a few hundred metres from the hallway — walking past a banner displaying photos of students in several rows and columns with marks by their side, and a board administering a “pledge of excellence”. In the opposite building, girls stick to a similar protocol. “They will be back in 45 minutes for the afternoon classes,” says an attender, who keeps tabs on those entering and leaving the premises.

This is a part of the day in the life of students who have enrolled for coaching for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) at Spiro Prime Education Institutes, a top school-cum coaching centre for competitive examinations in Namakkal district. The classes begin at 9 a.m. here, but the study hours start two hours before. After the noon classes, more study hours, and doubt-clearing sessions follow in the evening (with a few breaks, including for physical education), keeping the students busy till the night. The institute offers hostel facilities for students to stay through the year, and prepare for the test.

Such hostel facilities are not confined to Spiro. They are a common feature of the relatively big coaching centres of Namakkal. Much of it has to do with the district’s emergence as a ‘hub for competitive exams’, resulting in more parents from other districts of the State enrolling their wards here. In fact, Namakkal had the highest share of candidates scoring 650 and above in NEET UG 2024 — which is mandatory for admissions to medical courses in the country — from the State, and the second-highest in India. The figure was even better than that of the State capital, Chennai.

Besides, a perusal of the centre-wise data released by the National Testing Agency (which conducts NEET) on July 20, 2024 reveals that of over 6,100 students who wrote the test at the 11 centres in the district, 32 scored 700 and above; 313, between 650 and 699; and 300, between 600 and 649 . These are considered good scores to secure a seat in a government college.

(It is to be noted that while a centre-wise analysis of scores need not necessarily be attributed to the performance of the district, trainers and directors of some of the institutes in Namakkal that this reporter spoke to confirmed that those enrolling for coaching in the district are asked to choose Namakkal as the test centre, or themselves prefer it as the first choice to get more time for preparation).

There are plenty of reasons for our performance, says S.M. Udhaiyakumar, Chairman and Managing Director, Spiro Prime Education Institutes. “Firstly, I will attribute it to the way we approach the curriculum, and provide individual attention. We talk to each student daily, understand their problems and help them resolve those. This gives us the results. This [NEET] is a highly competitive exam, and you constantly have to be by the students’ side — on an academic and a personal front,” he adds.