Senior Citizen cracks NEET, held back on Technical grounds

Chennai: The retired teacher from Tamil Nadu, K. Sivaprakasam of Dharmapuri, has proved that age is just a number and is not a barrier to education. He has cracked NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) with the 349th rank.

Considering the Supreme Court's order to bar any upper age limit to clear NEET, even though he has scored 249 marks in the exam and applied for an MBBS seat under the 7.5 per cent government school student quota, he has been rejected on technical grounds. 

Officials stated that Sivapraksam had completed the Pre University Course (PUC) system which was later abolished by the Tamil Nadu government and this led to his disqualification. Another officer of the selection committee said "We included his name in the rank list but sought an opinion from higher officials and lawyers. Government quota is for those students who have cleared 10+2.

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The 61-year-old retired zoology teacher Sivaprakasam was called for counselling on Friday under the government school student quota. There are 437 seats under the quota reports Logical Indian and Sivaprakasam would automatically have got the seat, if it was not the PUC issue.

 Talking to IANS, he said: "I was in two minds on whether to take the seat or not as my son who is house surgeon at Kanyakumari Government Medical College had advised me not to take the seat as it would mean losing the opportunity of a young boy."

He said that he always wanted a young boy to get the seat and that he was happy that he had cracked the NEET.

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