Dalit medical aspirant who allegedly failed to crack NEET, killed herself in Tamil Nadu
A Dalit medical aspirant in Tamil Nadu committed suicide after she allegedly failed to qualify the medical entrance examination. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) results were declared on Monday.
"She consumed poison after she failed the
NEET. We have not received any formal complaint yet but this is what we have heard," said a police officer.
Prateebha's father is a construction labourer in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu. She had scored 1125 out of 1200 in her class 12 board examinations. Investigators say Prateebha was a student of AKT School in Kallakurichi.
Last year,
Anitha, a medical aspirant killed herself by hanging after she failed to crack the mandatory NEET, for her dream medical career. She was the daughter of a poor, Dalit daily-wage labourer who had scored 98 per cent in her class 12 board examinations.
Prateebha's death may trigger a fresh wave of protests against NEET in the state.
For nearly a decade Tamil Nadu had banned the entrance exams for admissions to medical and engineering colleges. Seats were offered to these colleges purely on the basis of marks obtained in class 12 board examinations.
The state government had said NEET exams were creating undue stress and meritorious students from economically marginalized sections and rural areas were not able to afford private coaching, which most students from cities rush for.
The state had earlier obtained a Presidential assent for exemption from NEET. The centre, however, opposed it and since last year NEET became mandatory in Tamil Nadu.
The state government, since last year, had been offering free NEET coaching for students of government-run schools but the overall results have dropped compared to last year, say teachers.
Less than 40 per cent of the students who had appeared for NEET in Tamil Nadu has been able to clear the examinations this year, far less than Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.