The chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Siddha (NIS) in Chennai, Prof. Dr. P Jayaprakash Narayanan has written to the Prime Minister and to the Union Ayush Minister requesting them to consider the demand of the Ph D aspirants of the siddha community for one more chance to take the national eligibility test (Ayush NET) conducted by the Ministry of Ayush this year.

The veteran academician has also wanted the government of Tamil Nadu to immediately intervene in the conduct of the traditional medical courses by government and private institutions. He said the government should call a joint meeting of all the heads of institutions to deliberate on how to improve the quality of siddha educational institutions, teachers and students.

Emphasizing the need for one more attempt as demanded by the PG siddhars, the academic expert said the major flaw for the total failure in the NET is due to the unscientific syllabus of the UG and PG courses of the siddha stream. The Union Ministry of Ayush and the government of Tamil Nadu must jointly chalk out programs to improve the standard of the students so as to make them capable for competing with students in a national environment. He said most of the students attended the exam were meritorious ones, but they were not given any pre-coaching. Several of the PG siddhars are practitioners also.

Prof Jayaprakash, who is a member at the general body of the Central Council of Research in Siddha (CCRS), while responding to the failure of the siddha post graduates in the Ayush NET, pointed out that government must revise the syllabus of the undergraduate and postgraduate courses to increase the standard of the students. Similarly, steps should be taken to raise the standard of the institutions also.

“The students cannot be blamed for the overall failure. There are meritorious candidates, but no proper training or coaching for a competitive test is given to them. It is the duty of the Ministry of Ayush and also the department of Indian Systems of Medicine in Tamil Nadu to motivate the institutions to impart quality education to their students. The instruction should be in a perspective for inspiring the students to attend national level competitive exams. For this, the teachers should be trained first”, he remarked.

The president of the Thirunelveli based organisation, Friends of Siddha Medicine’, Dr. Joseph Thas, has also remarked that government should bring reforms in the syllabus pattern. Coaching is necessary for competitive examinations like Ayush NET and academicians should take the responsibility for training their students. According to him, a panel of academic experts should be formed to train the students in consultation with the state government and union ayush secretary.

In Tamil Nadu, the government siddha medical colleges at Palayamkottai in Thirunelveli district,  Annanagar in Chennai, and the National Institute of Siddha in Tambaram are conducting post graduate courses in siddha system. There are five private institutions conducting graduate courses (BSMS).