Even as an ordinance signed by the President on Tuesday exempted State government-run medical colleges and government seats in private medical colleges across the country from the Supreme Court-mandated National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for a year, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the NEET was not thrust on Tamil Nadu in the future.
In her letter, a copy of which was released to the media, Ms. Jayalalithaa thanked Mr. Modi for promulgating the ordinance, which “for the time being” put at rest the mental agony, stress and anxiety of lakhs of students and their parents aspiring for medical admission for the current year in the State quota.
The introduction of NEET would nullify the implementation of certain policy initiatives and socio-economic objectives of the State, which had enacted a legislation to abolish common entrance tests for admission to professional courses. She argued that regulations for a national test may not have such enabling provisions.
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“The national test is out of tune with the prevailing socio-economic milieu and administrative requirements of Tamil Nadu,” she contended.
Maintaining that the ordinance would only “temporarily” address the issue for the current year, she said the situation in Tamil Nadu was distinct and different from other States.
Listing the State government’s efforts to systematise the admission process to medical colleges, including abolition of entrance examinations for professional undergraduate courses, she said, “This measure was taken keeping in view the interests of students, particularly from the weaker sections and rural areas, to ensure that a level playing field is created.”
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‘Injustice to students’
The introduction of NEET was not only a “direct infringement” on the rights of the State but also caused “grave injustice” to students of Tamil Nadu,” said Ms. Jayalalithaa.
The Chief Minister justified the State government’s stand on the issue and said rural students and students from poorer socio-economic backgrounds would be unable to compete with urban elite students in such common entrance exams, which are “designed to favour the urban elite.”
Such students would also lack the resources to enrol in training institutions and access materials available to urban students. “A large number of students of socially and economically backward meritorious rural students have benefitted by the Government of Tamil Nadu’s decision to abolish the Common Entrance Examination,” she said.
Pointing out that in postgraduate medical admissions, Tamil Nadu gives special preference to students who served in rural areas, hilly and tribal areas, she said the State also enforced a mandate requiring postgraduate doctors from government medical colleges to serve the State government for a minimum period. This helped the State meet the need for specialist medical manpower in Government Hospitals.
Therefore, Ms Jayalalithaa urged the Prime Minister to take necessary measures to ensure that Tamil Nadu continued with its “fair and existing system of admission” to medical and dental colleges and not forced to implement the NEET.