Stalin Wants Exemption From NEET For 2026-27
Making the request without prejudice to his longstanding and principled demand for the complete abolition of NEET and restoration of State autonomy in medical admissions: Reports
CHENNAI: DMK president M K Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately intervene and provide relief to students affected by the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 by promulgating an ordinance to amend section 14 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, and exempt NEET (National Eligibility and Entrance Test for medical admissions) for the academic year 2026–2027, allowing State Governments to make admissions on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examinations.
Making the request without prejudice to his longstanding and principled demand for the complete abolition of NEET and restoration of State autonomy in medical admissions, Stalin, in a letter to Modi on Friday urged him to protect the youth of the country, particularly students from rural, marginalised and economically weaker backgrounds and to ensure the future of lakhs of young medical aspirants.
Repeated failures, systemic vulnerabilities and growing public distrust surrounding NEET, particularly in light of the shocking cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 following a massive nationwide paper leak, had fallen disproportionately on students from poor, rural, government-school, Tamil-medium, and socially marginalised backgrounds, he said
While the examination was projected as a mechanism to ensure merit and transparency, the reality had been starkly different since NEET had effectively transformed medical admissions into a highly commercialised, coaching-centre-driven process in which economic privilege increasingly determined success rather than genuine academic capability or social commitment, he said.
The cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 examination held on May 3 had once again exposed the deep structural flaws inherent in a highly centralised examination system, he said, adding that a so-called “guess paper” containing over 400 questions, including substantial matches exceeding 120 questions in Biology and Chemistry, were circulated widely across WhatsApp and Telegram groups before the examination.
A multi-state network involving at least 45 individuals was uncovered, leading to arrests and a CBI investigation, after it threw nearly 22.8 lakh students into uncertainty, with lakhs of honest aspirants once again being punished for institutional failures, he said.
The history of NEET and its predecessor examinations revealed a disturbing and consistent pattern of irregularities, he said and listed out a series of scams in 2015, 2016, 2027, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024.
The structure and pattern of the examination overwhelmingly favoured students from affluent urban families who possessed access to expensive private coaching institutions, study materials, repeated mock tests, and residential preparation centres, making it nearly impossible for rural and government-school students, especially first-generation learners, to surmount the barrier.
The coaching industry built around NEET had grown into a massive commercial enterprise worth more than ₹70,000 crore and projected to expand exponentially in the coming years, and it had become impossible to clear NEET without years of specialised coaching that costs several lakhs of rupees annually, he pointed out.
Since Parliament was not in session, Stalin requested the Union Government to promulgate an Ordinance to dispense with the requirement of NEET and provide immediate relief to lakhs of students facing uncertainty and mental trauma and to reduce the burden of reappearing for a compromised examination.
