Karnataka Assembly adopts resolution against NEET

Karnataka- Amid the controversy over the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) this year, the Karnataka Cabinet has adopted a resolution against the exam.

The government said the NEET examination system is severely affecting the medical education opportunities of poor children from rural areas. It not only makes the school education system ineffective, but also takes away the rights of the state government to admit students in state government managed medical colleges and hence it is requested that this system should be abolished, as per PTI report.

The Karnataka Cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in a meeting held recently, approved the proposal to scrap the NEET exam in Karnataka. Instead of the NEET exam, the Cabinet decided to hold another new medical entrance examination for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes or convert it into the Common Entrance Test (CET) for medical students.

Previously, Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar said “The NEET exam must be scrapped immediately and the union government must allow states to conduct their own exams. Karnataka has built colleges but the NEET exam is benefitting North Indian students and depriving our own students. We all have to unitedly fight against this”.

To scrap the NEET from Karnataka started after the Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the NEET, urging the union government to scrap NEET and allow state governments to undertake medical admissions based on class 12 marks, as was done before NEET's implementation.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the resolution was introduced by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin amid uproar over a paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 examination and the sudden postponement of the NEET-PG 2024 examination.

"Tamil Nadu has been consistently saying that we do not want NEET. Now it is proved that NEET is not a fair examination, and students are losing so much because of NEET. We want NEET to be abolished. We have passed a resolution in our Assembly, and it is still pending with the President for signature”, Kanimozhi said.