High drama prevailed when over 50 students studying in Chennai Girls Higher Secondary’s School in Nungambakkam staged a protest demanding scrapping of NEET on Saturday noon.
After the classes were over for the day, the students, from Class 8 to 12, trooped out of their school near the tennis stadium and walked towards Mahalingapuram main road to stage a protest around 12.45 p.m.
Squatting on the road, the girl students shouted slogans demanding scrapping of the NEET and demanding justice to the death of Ariyalur girl Anitha who had hanged herself after she could not get a medical seat due to introduction of NEET to medical education.
As soon as their road roko began, traffic went out of gear and vehicles had to be diverted as the road was blocked by the police. A huge posse of police personnel were posted and the senior officers tried and cajoled them to get away from the road but the girl students refused to budge. A few boys from the nearby school also joined the agitation.
“We do not want NEET and are asking for the State to be exempted from the exam. It is impossible to expect students like us to write a tough competitive exam like this when we are not trained enough,” said a girl protesters. Meanwhile, some of the parents of the protesting girls had also joined the agitation.
Activists prevented
As the protest grew, a few law college students joined them and the agitation intensified. Apprehensive, the police prevented the activists from anywhere getting closer to the protest area.
It was only after two hours the police officers were able to get the students to give up their protests and disperse. However, after learning that the school headmistress could take action against them the students staged another stir in front of the school. As the school gate was closed, the children squatted again on Rajaji Road and continued their agitation.
“Woman constables were deployed to handle the girls. We patiently requested them to disperse. Every time we removed them they came again to squat on the road. Finally they went inside the school and continued their agitation demanding action against teachers,” said a senior police officer.
The police brought parents of the children, education department officials and the headmistress to the school for talks.
But the students sat in protest demanding that the police release the five persons who were arrested for allegedly instigating the students. They also demanded that they be allowed to write the quarterly examinations beginning Monday.
They dispersed only after the headmistress and an officer from Education Department assured them that they would be allowed to write examination. The agitation of girls ended after four hours.
Student Federation of India south Chennai district president D. Chandru said that NEET directly affected the rural and poor students.
According to the police, the protest was instigated by a group. Three college students — Vignesh, Manickam and Arun — were picked up in connection with the protest. They were subsequently remanded, the police said.
Similarly, school students conducted agitations in Perambur.
Over 30 students were brought from a private school near Madhavaram who staged a protest in Perambur.
In Elliots Beach, around 20 students from various colleges held demonstration who were detained by the Shastri Nagar police.
