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Why is Tamil Nadu opposing NEET ?

Protests starting beginning when a dalit girl named Anitha who had scored 1176 out of
1200 marks in her class XII state board examination committed suicide as she was not
able to clear neet and live her dream of studying in a medical college in the state.

Tamil Nadu which exempted from neet last year and it was anticipated that this year as
well it would happened but neet exemption didn’t happened. Earlier it was very simple,
Tamil Nadu government had reserved 85% of the seats for state board students in
medical colleges . But this year Madras high court dismissed a government order for
reservation for state board students ,even denying the appeal for exemption from neet
for year 2017. Even students filed a case in the supreme court asking from exemption
from neet for which anitha impleaded herself in the case claiming that the NEET was
against the interests of rural students But Supreme court denied all the pleas and stated
that admissions should be made only based on NEET.

The protest became violent once Anitha committed suicide. Students from schools and
colleges along with activists from NGO’s and various political parties started Anti- NEET
protests. Protests continued even after the supreme court banned protests and it was
clear that people were not satisified with supreme court’s order. Political parties such as
AIADMK and DMK planned state wide protests along with rallies and marches . Even
though these protests did not interfere with the lives of normal people

BJP tried to get a hold on state by planning and organizing pro – NEET protests where
they explained about the advantages of NEET and how it can improve quality of
education in state and overall country .

Why is NEET boon for Tamil Nadu

According Tamil Nadu that this test will harm the prospects of students from the state.
Well in a way they are right . Tamil Nadu Board syllabus is not same as other boards
and different from CBSE syllabus according to stats the passing percentage of tamil
students in neet 2016 was 41.90% compared to 91.40% in state boards. Also only 13
students entered in IIT Madras. From the stats its clear that Tamil Nadu boards lags
behind other state boards even central board in terms of education quality. According to
an avidavity filed in madras court only 340 students from rural state board schools in
last 10 years were able to get medical seats that’s a 1% of total number of seats . Even
though dropout rate from schools of tamil nadu is lowest and gross enrolment of Tamil
Nadu student is highest in the country . The state board is still one of the worst state
boards of the country with little or no change in syllabus .

They scrapped the entrance examinations in the state in 2006 and introduced single
window counseling system for admissions in colleges based on marks in Class XII
board .Well you will think that the board the examinations will be tough but its not
rather the questions for examinations are from textbooks and students get good
percentages and they get admission too as abundance of engineering colleges and
medical colleges in the state. They stopped preparing for competitive exams as they will
get admission in state boards even if they not prepare well for examinations as checking
is very lienent in board exams.

Well Neet can solve this problem in a but in non orthodox way. Instead of first changing
the syllabus of state boards and then applying neet all across the country , The
supreme court ordered to apply it all over the country without even caring about states
like tamil nadu. Last year, It was fine as tamil nadu was exempted from the NEET but
this year students suffered. Neet can be a very good thing but first tamil nadu board
should change their way of teaching and syllabus including things which are taught in
CBSE and make sure that students from Tamil Nadu state board can not only face the
NEET but also clear it with good marks.

Why NEET is a bane for Tamil Nadu

Well preparation of NEET requires a good help of coaching centers which is

economically very difficult for students of rural areas in Tamil Nadu where there is a
need for coaching as state board is not up to the par with the NEET syllabus. Tamil
Nadu health even said that in a interview that state prefers 12 board examination over
NEET as it would be fair for rural student who do not have access to other education
means except government schools . The admission cutoffs were very close for all the
categories which becomes fair to all but inclusion of NEET lowers the cutoff for reserved
category students and increase cutoff for general category students and favours
students which are from CBSE background.

So the question is should NEET be banned in Tamil Nadu ?

Actually, No as Tamil Nadu state board has tarnished after it had dropped entrance
examination .With schools providing education for NEET it would be become easier for
students to take admissions for tamil nadu students not in tamil nadu as well as all over
the country as they now compete against the students all across the country . NEET is
necessary as it will bring change in the state board and our country will get good
doctors and dentists.