NEET row reaches UN in New York

Tamils who reside in New York gathered near the UN headquarters on Saturday and staged a demonstration seeking to abolish NEET from Tamil Nadu.

The protest is a part of the chain of demonstration held across USA, seeking justice for Anitha S, an MBBS aspirant who committed suicide after failing to secure a seat despite scoring 1,176 out of 1,200 in Class 12 exams.

Until Saturday, Tamils in the US had conducted candlelight vigils across 37 states.

They even took out peaceful rallies in front of Indian Embassies.

A representation had also been sent to India from the Tamil diaspora insisting that NEET be scrapped and education as a subject moved from concurrent to the state list.

One of the protesters said that the Centre and the state government were responsible for the fiasco as they gave false hopes to the students that Tamil Nadu would be exempted from NEET.

“The state has one of the India’s best socioeconomic index. Poor students from rural areas have easy access to study medicine and other professional disciplines,” said another protester over the phone from New York.

“NEET acts as a gatekeeper for medicine so much so that those who can afford the entrance exam coaching centres can gain access to the higher education, while poor students from the rural areas will be left behind despite their high scores in Class 12 exam,” he added.