Tamil Nadu Calls for End to NEET

Following the suicide of 17-year-old S. Pratibha, an aspirant for a career in medicine for whom the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), political parties in Tamil Nadu have demanded an end to this entrance test. Citing another death last year by a student who did not clear this examination and ended up committing suicide, the leaders of the DMK and PMK ave denounced the negative effects of this examination on the state, calling for its abolition to ensure a better set of conditions for students trying to get into institutions of higher education, without having to go through the additional pressure of placing their fate on a single exam. Tamil Nadu had abolished entrance examinations in 2006, believing it to be a better alternative and having high school students gain admission to colleges based on their 12th grade academic results.

MK Stalin, the DMK Working President, sent out tweets to express his outrage at this unfortunate demise of such a bright student, and went further to urge the chief ministers of all the South Indian states to similarly put an end to the NEET in their states. Leader of the PMK, MP Anbumani Ramadoss went so far as to say that exams like the NEET were only mechanisms that ensured a steady flow of students to private institutions, as these provided a way out for all those who would never have managed to get one of the limited seats for further education in their chosen field. Many others expressed their concern over the fact that such dramatic expressions of failure, such as suicide, should be under the purview of authorities who should ensure that such things do not happen to those who will one day be the future of this country.