The Union government’s submission in the Supreme Court, which stated that the compensatory marks earlier granted to 1,563 National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) candidates would be withdrawn, was “another admission of their own ineptitude,” contended Tamil Nadu Chief MInister and DMK president M.K. Stalin on Thursday.
A few hours after the Union government’s submission in the Supreme Court, Mr. Stalin in his social media post said: “It should not be allowed to divert the attention away from the core problems of irregularities and unprofessional conduct of exams, after taking away the right of States.”
Condemning its incompetence as well as apathy towards the agony of lakhs of students, Mr. Stalin said: “We reiterate that the only solution for this issue is to restore the role of State governments in deciding the method of selection for MBBS courses.”
‘Exempt T.N. from NEET’
Earlier in the day, State Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said the government’s stand was that the State should be exempted from NEET-mandated admission to undergraduate medical programmes. Currently, it is mandatory to qualify in NEET to be admitted to MBBS, BDS, nursing, and several allied health programmes and courses offered under Indian systems of medicine.
Mr. Subramanian in Chennai told reporters that in the recent NEET, the National Testing Agency (NTA) had erred grossly for which the students were bearing the brunt. He said former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had once obtained exemption from the NEET mandate for Tamil Nadu, however, the Edappadi Palaniswami government had accepted the exam in toto.
The DMK government had constituted a committee under a former Madras High Court judge A.K. Rajan, which submitted a report to do away with the NEET mandate. The report argued that the State’s people did not want NEET as it adversely affected students from poor economic backgrounds, he said.
Mr. Subramanian said the award of grace marks this year’s NEET for mistakes committed by the NTA had caused much confusion. “NEET has become a scam. Also, only 31% of students clear NEET in the first attempt while 69% do so after multiple attempts. Such students invest in coaching centres multiple times to clear the test,” he said.
