For Elimination, Not Eligibility: Kanimozhi Underscores 'NEET Exit' Demand

New Delhi:

Tamil Nadu has always done well with its own system of medical recruitment exam and should be exempt from the NEET-UG 2024 (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), the ruling DMK’s MP Kanimozhi told NDTV today amid headlines generated by the all-India exam over allegations of paper leak. Calling NEET an “eliminating examination” and not an “eligibility exam”, she said the state has been suffering a lot since it was introduced. “We don’t have doctors in rural areas… the healthcare system is suffering because NEET was brought in,’ she added.

Earlier today, the Centre told the Supreme Court that the scorecards of 1,563 NEET candidates who were given grace marks for a wrong question will be scrapped and they will be given an option to take a retest. The re-test will be held on June 23 and the results will be declared on June 30.

Union Human Resource of Development minister Dharmendra Pradhan has asserted that there was no paper leak and the Centre’s new decision will not place any student at a disadvantage.

Ms Kanimozhi, however, argued that while the NEET works for city students who are able to take advanced coaching, it places rural students of Tamil Nadu at an immense disadvantage.

“Everything cannot be centralised,” she told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

“Our doctors are doing very well all over the world and in Tamil Nadu. So many of our students, who should have rightfully got into medical colleges and especially students from underprivileged families and rural areas, are the worst sufferers,” she said.

With former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi building a Medical College in every district of Tamil Nadu, Ms Kanimozhi said those are the ones that should be taken out of the NEET system.

The party has passed a resolution in the assembly and sent it to President Droupadi Murmu for approval. The matter will also be raised in parliament once it begins, she said.

When the NEET results were declared on June 4, as many as 67 students were found to have scored an unprecedented perfect 720. Six of them were from a centre in Haryana’s Faridabad, raising suspicions of irregularities. Students started raising questions on the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET, demanding a thorough investigation.