NEET: The committee will submit its report in a month (representational)
After constituting a high-level committee to study the impact of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medicine on Tamil Nadu students, the government has now sought public opinion on the issue. In a newspaper advertisement, the state government has asked for feedback from people on or before June 23.
“Public opinion is invited and the same may be sent in not exceeding 5 pages on or before 23-6-2021 either by email or post or may drop in the box kept at the committee office in Director of Medical Education campus,” it reads. The email ID to send suggestions is neetimpact2021@gmail.com.
The NEET committee led by retired judge of the Madras High Court, Justice AK Rajan, will study the impact of the NEET exam on aspirants from the socially disadvantaged sections in medical admissions and submit the report in a month, the state government said last Thursday.
The committee has eight other members – Dr GR Ravindranath (Doctors Association for Social Equality), Jawahar Nesan (educationist), and six top government officials, including the Principal Secretary of Medical and Family Welfare Department.
Based on the recommendations made by the committee, the government will plan its next course of action, said an official release.
When it comes to NEET, almost all Tamil Nadu parties, including the ruling DMK and opposition AIADMK, are on the same page. They have been demanding that the test be scrapped.
Chief Minister MK Stalin had earlier this month written to PM Modi, requesting that Tamil Nadu be exempted from the exam and be allowed to fill MBBS seats using Class 12 results. The AIADMK had also made similar suggestions.
When the NEET exam was first announced in 2012, several states, including Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, had strongly opposed it, stating that it would put state board students at a disadvantage due to differences in syllabus. NEET was finally implemented in all states except West Bengal and Tamil Nadu on the order of the Supreme Court in 2016 and nationwide from 2017.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducted the exam between 2016 and 2018 and after that, the National Testing Agency (NTA) took the responsibility of holding NEET as the single entrance exam for undergraduate medical admissions in India.