NEET promise to help DMK alliance

Congress’ promise of doing away with NEET and replacing it with a state-level entrance test could come as a shot in the arm for the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu, which has been raking up the issue in every election meeting.

NEET is considered discriminatory against students from rural areas, who are pitted against students from urban areas across the country.

According to opponents of the entrance test, the latter have better educational facilities.

DMK spokesperson Manuraj S told DH that the Congress’ support to abolish NEET in Tamil Nadu and replace it with a state-level test is a landmark decision that restores the autonomy of the State in determining education of its students.

“The AIADMK Government, which has no knowledge about the status of the laws passed by the Legislative Assembly to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET, and the BJP Government which has not given assent to these laws, must take full moral responsibility for their collective administrative failures,” he said.

Sumanth C Raman, political commentator and a doctor by profession, feels the Congress’ promise on NEET would help the DMK and its alliance partners to “some extent” as it reaffirms what they have said in their manifesto.

“They aren’t saying they will do away with an entrance exam altogether. They say they will replace NEET with a state-run entrance exam. This was the practice in Tamil Nadu between 1989 and 2006 and this seems a sensible option. In those days, both entrance exam marks and plus-two marks were given weightage,” he told DH.

AIADMK, which is in power, has also promised to abolish NEET but opposition parties allege that it never took any step towards this in the past five years.

Educationists welcomed the Congress’ promising of doing away with NEET, but were divided on replacing it with a state-level entrance exam.

P B Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of State Platform for Common School System (SPCSS –TN), told DH that scrapping of NEET will help rural students chase their dream of getting into government medical colleges.

“We have been maintaining that NEET is unconstitutional and that it needs to be scrapped. But replacing it with a state-level test brings its own set of problems,” he said, adding that medical admission based just on plus-two marks would be a sensible option.