Govt Panel to Study Impact of NEET 2021 on aspirants in Tamil Nadu

Written by Barsha Misra Published On 2021-06-11T16:00:55+05:30 | Updated On 11 Jun 2021 4:00 PM IST

Govt Panel to Study Impact of NEET 2021 on aspirants in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Government has recently formed a high-level panel to study the impact of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, NEET on aspirants in Tamil Nadu, especially those belonging to the rural areas, and socially disadvantaged sections.

The eight-member committee led by a retired judge of Madras High Court, A K Rajan would study the impact of the screening test required for medical admissions on the students and submit its recommendations within a month.

As per the announcement made by Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday, the besides Justice Rajan, who heads the panel, there would be eight other members including Dr. G R Ravindranath (Doctors Association for Social Equality), Jawahar Nesan (educationist), and six top government officials including Principal Secretary of Medical and Family Welfare Department, PTI has reported.

The panel would study the data related to medical admissions in the state and make necessary recommendations within a month to safeguard the interests of students from the backward sections and "the government will initiate the next course of action after considering the recommendations," an official release here said.

The decision on the part of the Government to form a panel regarding the issue comes after the opposition to the NEET 2021 grew manifold in Tamil Nadu following the suicide of several aspirants including a Dalit girl.

On June 5, Stalin had said that Tamil Nadu always had the historic duty of upholding social justice and to fulfill that duty continuously, the government is determined to take all steps to address the consequences due to the NEET.

Announcing the panel, the Chief Minister had said it would analyze if the national test had an adverse impact on students from backward classes and if it was so, the committee would recommend remedial measures (suggesting an alternative admission procedure that would benefit all) to the government.

Almost all parties including the ruling DMK and main opposition AIADMK are on the same page as regards NEET and they have been demanding that the test be scrapped arguing that it went against social justice.

Aspirants from rural regions, those who studied in government schools and students belonging to backward classes could not get admission to medical courses, parties had said time and again.

Also Read: NEET 2021: NTA activates website, Further details awaited

Medical Dialogues had recently reported that recently Chief Minister M K Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel NEET as well as other all-national level tests and allow Tamil Nadu to fill professional seats, including the MBBS, based on class 12 marks.

Moreover, AIADMK top leader O Panneerselvam backed the DMK government's position and urged Prime Minister to abolish the tests. One of the grounds for their opposition is that such tests went against social justice and denied opportunities to students from socially disadvantaged groups and aspirants from rural regions. NEET continues to be one of the much politically debated issues in Tamil Nadu.

The previous AIADMK government had in October last year introduced 7.5 percent reservation to government school students who clear NEET in medical admissions.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu Demands cancellation of NEET 2021

Tamil Nadu governmentchief minister MK Stalinneet in tamil naduneet tamil naduneet 2021aiadmk

Source : with agency inputs

Barsha Misra

Barsha completed her Master's in English from the University of Burdwan, West Bengal in 2018. Having a knack for Journalism she joined Medical Dialogues back in 2020. She mainly covers news about medico legal cases, NMC/DCI updates, medical education issues including the latest updates about medical and dental colleges in India. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in.