Tamil Nadu passes Bill to exempt students from NEET

Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday passed a bill to exempt students of the state from appearing in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions into medical and dental courses, four years after a similar bill passed in the Assembly was rejected by the Union Government.

The Bill says admission to undergraduate medical courses will be held based on the marks scored by students in their plus-two exams as was the case before NEET came into existence in 2017. The Bill will now be sent to the President for his assent, even as the BJP government at the Centre strongly supports the conduct of NEET.

Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Act, 2021 was supported by all political parties, including principal Opposition AIADMK, barring the BJP, whose legislators staged a walkout.

Tabling the Bill, Chief Minister M K Stalin declared that the DMK government’s “legal battle” against NEET has begun. “The notion that NEET will improve the standard of medical education is wrong. Competitive exams alone cannot judge students,” Stalin said, adding that NEET has taken the lives of in Tamil Nadu, the “land of social justice".

As Stalin tabled the Bill, MLAs from the principal Opposition party, AIADMK, staged a walkout led by their leader Edappadi K Palaniswami who accused the DMK of “failing students” by giving a “false promise” that NEET will be done away. However, AIADMK members returned to the House for the passage of the bill.

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“It is evident from the Commission's report that NEET is not an equitable method of admission. The experience of the past four years of NEET has shown that the exam has shattered the hopes and dreams of Tamil Nadu students aspiring for admissions to medical and dental courses, particularly, students from the socially and economically backward classes,” the Bill said.

Stalin added that the Justice Rajan committee concluded that NEET places students from economically weaker sections at a “disadvantageous position.”

Rejecting allegations by Palaniswami on NEET, Stalin told the Assembly that NEET was never held in Tamil Nadu as long as J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi were alive.

“The first exam was held in 2017. The then AIADMK government never took any step to stop the conduct of the exam,” Stalin charged.

The Commission was appointed by the DMK government to study the impact of NEET on students from economically backward sections of the society. The Bill was passed a day after a 19-year-old died by suicide hours before he was to attend the exam.

The Bill said the experience of the past four years of NEET has shown that the exam has “shattered the hopes and dreams of Tamil Nadu students aspiring for admissions to medical and dental courses, particularly, students from the socially and economically backward classes.”

“The extra examination which students are compelled to face, other than the qualifying examination has caused a huge financial burden to the students from socially and economically backward classes. It festers inequality, as it favours the rich and more privileged class of society who are able to afford special coaching, apart from pursuing Class XII. It virtually barricades the underprivileged social groups from medical and dental education,” the Bill said.

The Bill said admissions to medical courses based on plus-two marks will “ensure social justice, uphold equality and equal opportunity, and protect all vulnerable student communities from being discriminated against.”

The Commission also concluded that if NEET continues for a few more years, the health care system of Tamil Nadu will be very badly affected and there may not be enough doctors for being posted at Primary Health Centres or Government Hospitals and that the rural and urban poor may not be able to join the medical courses.

NEET is a highly emotive issue in Tamil Nadu with 14 young students ending their lives either due to fear of appearing for the exam or due to not landing in a medical college despite scoring “high marks.”

While the DMK blames the AIADMK for allowing the exam in Tamil Nadu, the tables have turned now. AIADMK, the principal Opposition party, pinned the blame for the 19-year-old’s death squarely on the ruling party which promised to abolish NEET once it came to power.

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