While the ruling DMK has been continuously opposing National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and has passed two bills in the state Assembly for cancelling NEET, 1.5 lakh students from Tamil Nadu are appearing for the exam on Sunday, scheduled at 2 p.m. and will conclude at 5.20 p.m.
This includes 12,730 government school students who have availed free NEET coaching conducted by the Tamil Nadu School Education Department.
Salem district tops the list of number of government school students who have attended the NEET coaching at 992, while Karur has the lowest number at 71.
Tamil Nadu witnessed several protests over the years against the conduct of NEET after several students took their lives after they failed to clear NEET. Some students committed suicide for fear of writing the examination.
In Tamil Nadu, an estimated 24 students committed suicide due to NEET since its inception in 2017.
NEET has been a persistent issue in Tamil Nadu with the exam being perceived as anti-poor and discriminatory against students from government schools and rural backgrounds.
In 2023, after the NEET results came, a 19-year-old boy, Jagatheeswaran, committed suicide after he could not get a seat in a government medical college even after scoring 400 marks in the exam. His father Selvasekar was also found dead by consuming poison the next day unable to bear the loss of his son.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin had then said that the DMK and Tamil Nadu government had all along been opposed to NEET and had told students that NEET can be abolished in future. While condoling the death of the father-son duo, Stalin said: “Tamil Nadu government is taking steps to abolish NEET and students should not take any extreme steps fearing the exam.”
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which is conducting NEET, has stated that 24 lakh students are appearing for the exam in 557 cities across the country and in 14 cities out of India.
