Stalin, Other Leaders Renew Demand of NEET Withdrawal

Chennai: A slew of allegations of irregularities in the conduct of NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) for 2024 medical college admissions prompted Chief Minister M K Stalin and other political leaders of the State to renew the long standing demand for the abolition of the examination on Friday.

‘Trends emerging from the latest NEET results have once again vindicated our principled opposition to the exam. Issues such as question paper leaks, clustering of toppers at specific centres, and award of marks, which are mathematically impossible, under the guise of grace marks highlight the pitfalls of the current Union Government’s centralization, Stalin said in a message on X.

Leader of the opposition in the State Assembly Edappadi K Palaniswami wanted the newly elected Union Government to bring back the old model of medical admissions based on the marks scored in the 12th standard public examinations.

Flaying the mess up and the alleged irregularities in the conduct of NEET, he said that unannounced advancement in the declaration of the results, coinciding it with the result of the Lok Sabha election, raised several doubts and reaffirmed the AIADMK’s anti-NEET stand.

PMK founder S Ramadoss said it was time that the useless entrance examination was put to an end as the irregularities in the NEET undergraduate examinations, held on May 5, were evident from 67 students scoring the maximum mark of 720.

He also pointed out that 6 students from a single centre in Haryana had scored 720 marks and 44 others who gave the wrong answer for one question had also been given 720 marks. Demanding a re-examination for 2024 admissions, he said NEET should be scrapped in 2025.

Stalin said ‘These events emphasise the need to restore the pre-eminence of the State government’s and school education system's role in determining criteria for professional course selection and reiterated that NEET and other entrance examinations were anti-poor.

Stating that entrance examinations undermined the federal polity, went against social justice and impacted the availability of doctors in deserving areas, he said: ‘Let’s join hands to eradicate this malady. That day is not far!’

Welcoming Chief Minister’s demand for eradication of NEET, TNCC president K Selvaperunthogai, in a statement, said the examination ruined the future aspirations of poor students.

Pointing out that the DMK-led secular progressive front, including the Congress, in the State had been organizing many protests against NEET, he said that between 2017 and 2020 only 13 of the total 3,41,000 students from government schools joined medical colleges in the State.

Even after the 7.5 per cent reservation was brought in, of the total 5567 seats in the State medical colleges, only 435 seats went to students from government schools, he said.