TN Assembly passes Bill to scrap NEET in state

The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill  which would exempt the state’s medical aspirants from NEET. The bill for medical education would provide admission to undergraduate medical courses based on qualifying examinations. While introducing the Bill, Chief Minister MK Stalin said that through this Bill, seat allotment for medical undergraduates seats in government and private institutions shall be done based on Class 12 marks,” Stalin said. This was the way TN had carrie out medical admissions before NEET came into existence.

“The  government school students will get 7.5% preference in seat allotment,” he added.“The Bill has been tabled to use Class 12 public exams marks for undergraduate medical seat allotment after considering the recommendations by High level committee and to safeguard social justice, equality, to protect the affected children, and to create a strong health infrastructure especially in the rural areas,” Stalin said. “Tamil Nadu Government had decided to uphold social justice, equality and equal opportunity,” the CM said.

The chief minister had on June 5 constituted a high-level committee headed by retired justice AK Rajan to study the impact of NEET and the mushrooming coaching centres. Based on the findings of the panel, the government recommended the immediate elimination of NEET. The committee, according to the government, has said NEET favours only the rich and the elite sections, equally thwarting the dream of pursuing medical education by the underprivileged social groups. NEET has affected the rural and urban-poor students from government and Tamil-medium schools, particularly those whose families earn less than Rs 2.5 lakh a year, the committee said.