Tamil Nadu, which has long been opposing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), is mulling scrapping the exam and instead allowing admissions to medical colleges based on Class XII marks.
A panel set up by the state has proposed the law which, once cleared in the state Assembly, will need the President’s assent. “It would ensure social justice,” it was announced in the Assembly on Thursday.
Banning NEET was one of the electoral promises made by the Stalin government. In Tamil Nadu, many have committed suicide over fears of failing the exam. The DMK government has been calling for a level playing field for students from socially disadvantaged sections and had formed a panel, chaired by Justice A.K. Rajan, to study the adverse impact of NEET on economically backward students. It found that students enrolled in MBBS courses through NEET had performed poorly than those enrolled based on Class 12 marks.
“Those who get admitted based on NEET are primarily from urban, affluent, educated families. We found that 70 per cent of students when they finish their PG course chose to work with private corporate hospitals. But it was not the case before the introduction of NEET. Earlier, 70 per cent of students chose to work with government hospitals. Therefore, I would say NEET is destructive, it shatters the public health system,” Dr Jawahar Nesan, a member of the committee which submitted its report to the state government in July, told media.
Also read: NEET: 90% fall in Tamil-medium students in govt medical colleges
An official committee of secretaries under the chairmanship of the chief secretary had then been formed to propose the steps to implement the recommendations of the Rajan committee.
On Thursday, a policy note tabled by Health Minister Ma Subramanian in the Assembly said the move to override NEET would ensure social justice and protect all vulnerable student communities from being discriminated against in admission to medical education programmes.
“The Committee of Secretaries has suggested promulgating an Act, similar to TN Act No 3/2007, indicating the need for elimination of NEET in medical education and get the President’s assent for the same,” it said.
An RTI query had earlier revealed that there was a 90 per cent fall in the number of Tamil-medium students who got admitted to state government medical colleges in the first year NEET was introduced in Tamil Nadu – 2017-18.Tamil Nadu set to scrap NEET with fresh law