Tamil Nadu to Bring Resolution to Scrap NEET, CM Stalin Calls for All-Party Consensus

The MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government will soon introduce a resolution to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The state government has been against having a common medical entrance exam. Tamil Nadu had also constituted a committee to study the relevance of NEET as an entrance exam for medical studies.

Addressing the state Assembly, Stalin said, “We must all come together and give voice to overcoming party differences on the issue!. He said that the report of AK Rajan Committee will be considered legally and the relevant bill will be brought up.

As per the report of the committee, students who get admission to MBBS courses via NEET tend to perform poorer than those who are enrolled based on class 12 marks. The committee had studied the socio-economic impact of NEET and reported that students who get admitted based on NEET are primarily from urban, affluent, educated families. Implying that those who can afford to coach are getting admissions while students from socially and economically backward regions are at a disadvantage.

Justice AK Rajan committee comprises nine members including the state Health Secretary, Director of Medical Education. The committee received around 90000 responses from the public about the impact of NEET. The committee had worked for a month to submit a 165-page report to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The report is yet to be made public.

To ensure students from diverse social backgrounds get seats in medical colleges, the central government has introduced reservations for OBC and EWS category students. In addition to 15% reservation offered to SC and 7.5% to ST category students, 27% seats will be reserved for OBC and 10% for EWS category students. This decision is expected to benefit every year nearly 1500 OBC students in MBBS and 2500 OBC students in postgraduation and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1000 EWS students in postgraduation.

Meanwhile, aspirants of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2021 have been demanding postponement of the exams on the social media platform, Twitter as the exam date is clashing with other entrances. NEET 2021 is scheduled to be held on September 12 while the CBSE Class 12 improvement and compartment exams will be conducted from 25 to September 15. The ICAR will be on September 13, MHT CET 2021 from September 4 to 10, and from September 14 to 20 and CoMEDK will be on September 14.

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