NEET is pro-urban: OPS demands withdrawal of exam

CHENNAI: Expelled AIADMK leader and former chief minister O Panneerselvam called the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) is a pro-urban and affluent class examination that denies equal rights to students from rural pockets of the country. He demanded the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to do away with it. He also urged the state government to mount pressure on the Centre to nullify the exam that robs the dreams of students hailing from poor and marginalized sections of the society.

The Congress-led UPA government, in which the DMK was constituent, laid the foundation for the NEET examination in 2011. Former chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa vehemently opposed it and spoke against it as it would deny equal opportunity to everyone, said OPS in a statement.

It is against the rural students, who were hailing from poor and marginalised sections of the society. They account for 75% of the students’ community and they face stiff competition from their counterparts from urban areas. The rural students are handicapped due to lack of coaching centres and resources. There is a vast difference between the state syllabus and the NEET based syllabus, he said and summarised that the NEET is against rural students. It is destroying their dreams and aspirations to pursue medicine.

Citing a news report based on an interview with the toppers of the NEET examination, OPS said it vividly portrays that all of them, except for one, attended special NEET coaching classes. They were all CBSE students. They cleared it in their first attempt. They have also expressed that the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus is enough to crack the exam. “This clearly proves that the NEET is against social justice,” he said and demanded the withdrawal of the exam.