Entire nation is opposing NEET after TN's demand, says Stalin

The Supreme Court too is now raising questions about NEET, he added.

Stalin recalled how when Tamil Nadu started opposing NEET, many asked them why they were doing so. Now, the apex court, various state chief ministers and the whole nation is opposing NEET following in the footsteps of Tamil Nadu, he asserted.

The NEET-UG 2024 exam has come in for a lot of flak due to allegations of irregularities like paper leaks, candidate impersonations, cheating etc.  In fact, a CBI team is currently investigating the paper leaks and other alleged scams that has taken place in the NEET-UG 2024 exam conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA). The NTA is facing severe protests and legal actions because of these alleged irregularities.

Breaking obstacles

While inaugurating the expansion of the Morning Tiffin scheme for school students in government-aided schools in Tamil Nadu  on Monday (July 15), Stalin said that there should not be any “obstacle” to the education of Tamil Nadu (TN) students. Even if the obstacles are hunger, NEET or Union government’s New Education Policy, “our first priority” should be to break those obstacles, he asserted.

Stalin said that when TN started to oppose NEET, many questioned them why they were opposing NEET. “But today seeing the malpractices in the NEET, Supreme Court has started to raise questions,” he said, adding that students and state chief ministers have also started to oppose NEET.

“The whole nation is opposing NEET, following in the steps of Tamil Nadu," he said.

Politics over Emergency

Further, Stalin turned on the Union government and slammed them for indulging in politics on the "Emergency". He said that in the Parliament for the sake of politics, the Union Government continuously spoke about the Emergency period.

The CM then went on to ask the Union government a question: “Is the Union government ready to change education to state list from the concurrent list, where the education was changed to concurrent list during the Emergency period. Can they be able to do this?"

In his view, NEET and NEP, which they oppose is "unnecessary". "On one side, the government is fighting legal and political battles and on the another side, they are implementing schemes for schools and higher education for the welfare of students, he added.

Stalin promised that they will break the obstacles since students should focus only on studies and reiterated that “education is an asset which cannot be robbed”.

Breakfast scheme

Pointing out that the breakfast scheme has been extended to government-aided schools as well, he recalled that the scheme was introduced with the motto to break the hunger of students who go to school. This scheme introduced two years earlier on the birth anniversary of Perarignar Anna, is now being extended today on Kamarajar's birthday.

"More than 2,23,000 students are to have breakfast from government aided school," Stalin said, adding that this breakfast scheme has brought fame to the Dravidian model government.

NEET, a scandal

Meanwhile, P Chidambaran in an interview to ANI called NEET a "scandal".

According to Chidambaram, each state should have the right to conduct its own entrance examination to select students for the colleges run by the state government. When you have an all-India-level examination, these scandals are bound to happen, he added.