The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre to abolish the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in the state, allowing students to be admitted to medical courses based on their Class 12 marks. This move comes amidst allegations of a paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 examination, which has sparked widespread student protests.
Chief Minister MK Stalin, while moving the resolution, reaffirmed the ruling DMK's opposition to NEET, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). He highlighted that several political leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, and Tejasvi Surya, have called for a ban on NEET. Stalin emphasized that NEET adversely affects students from rural areas, undermines school education, and deprives the state of its right to allocate medical college seats.
"NEET should be removed, and Tamil Nadu should be granted an exemption. The central government should approve the bill passed by the Assembly that allows Class 12 marks to qualify for medical education," Stalin stated. He also called for amendments to the National Medical Commission Act to remove NEET, citing controversies and opposition from various states.
The discussion saw BJP MLA Nainar Nagendran opposing the resolution, attributing the introduction of NEET to the Congress and asserting its necessity. This led to a walkout by the Opposition. Congress party Assembly head Selvaperunthagai countered by claiming that the NTA secretly released NEET exam results and mishandled the allocation of grace marks, resulting in a Supreme Court-mandated re-test for 1,563 students.
Selvaperunthagai further argued that the origins of NEET trace back to recommendations by a committee formed by the Medical Council of India, and it was not introduced by Congress. He pointed out that the BJP government facilitated NEET's implementation following an appeal by the RSS-affiliated organization 'Sankalp' from Gujarat in 2014.
Despite the heated exchanges, the Speaker expunged the contentious remarks from both Selvaperunthagai and Nagendran, leading to the resolution's passage.
The NEET-UG 2024 exam has faced significant backlash due to allegations of a question paper leak, prompting nationwide protests from students. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), investigating the leak, made its first arrests related to the case on Thursday.
