No exemption for Tamil Nadu from NEET as President declined decision, CM MK Stalin tells state Assembly

The decision looking for exemption for Tamil Nadu from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) has been declined by the President, Chief Minister MK Stalin advised the Assembly on Friday.

Nevertheless, the state would proceed its battle to abolish the NEET, he stated and introduced that an all-political social gathering assembly has been convened on April 9, on this regard, in keeping with a PTI report.

CM MK Stalin knowledgeable the House on the newest improvement by terming the rejection as a “dark chapter in federalism”, and accused the Centre of disregarding the desire of Tamil Nadu folks and the Assembly invoice, too.

“Despite the Tamil Nadu government furnishing all necessary clarifications through various ministries, the Union government has now rejected the exemption from NEET,” Stalin stated.

What was the decision

The Tamil Nadu Assembly had unanimously handed a decision opposing the NEET in August final 12 months. The decision urged the central authorities to repeal NEET and restore the earlier observe of medical admissions based mostly on class 12 marks, adopted earlier than the implementation of NEET.

Several regional events, together with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, had supported the decision.

DMK MP Ok Kanimozhi had reiterated the decision to “exempt” Tamil Nadu from NEET, the medical admission examination performed nationwide by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Why is Tamil Nadu opposing NEET

Tamil Nadu has opposed the NEET because it was made obligatory in 2017. The take a look at was alleged to be inimical to the pursuits of its state board college students because it was performed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) between 2013 and 2018. The NTA then took over in 2019.

In 2021, the state’s authorities appointed a committee underneath the chairmanship of a retired excessive court docket choose, Justice AK Rajan, to review the impression of NEET on medical admissions in Tamil Nadu.

The 165-page report invoked “social justice” and “protection of vulnerable student communities from discrimination” in medical school admissions and cited “social accountability and professional ethics” as a part of the Hippocratic Oath of physicians. It linked medical schooling to social accountability and referred to as for extra range within the medical scholar base.

Student suicides linked to NEET

A 21-year-old scholar making ready for the NEET allegedly died by suicide on March 28, close to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, because of worry of underperforming within the medical entrance examination, police stated on Saturday.

The NEET aspirant, Devadharshini, was reportedly underneath excessive stress as she had failed the doorway examination thrice earlier. The examination is scheduled for May 4.

According to the AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi Ok Palaniswami, as many as 19 college students have allegedly died by suicide between September 2021 and March 2025 because of fears over clearing NEET.