The Indian Medical Association (IMA), Tamil Nadu State branch, has welcomed the Supreme Court judgment on Thursday quashing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), terming it as unconstitutional.
Medical Council of India (MCI) and Dental Council of India (DCI) had introduced this common entrance test for admission to graduate and postgraduate courses in government and private medical institutions. Tamil Nadu was among the first States to oppose NEET. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, IMA State President L.P. Thangavelu said that the Centre must have first brought about a uniform school syllabus across the country to ensure a level playing field for all students. There were different types of educational systems such as Matriculation, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), State Board and ICSE with no uniformity in the syllabus at the Plus Two level.
With NEET modelled on the CBSE, this would have conferred an unfair advantage on students from North India where CBSE system was prevalent. Students in Tamil Nadu would have been left at a disadvantage as only a few opted for CBSE in the State, he said.
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While welcoming some of the objectives of NEET such as preventing private colleges from collecting capitation fees, he said that there were already stringent laws and the Government could have achieved this objective by implementing existing laws.