550 centres for NEET exam: Sengottaiyan

Addressing newspersons in Tirunelveli, School Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan on Tuesday said as many as 550 schools across TN have been kept ready for the next phase of the medical entrance exam. The State had only 212 schools as exam centres last year, when around 1.13 lakh candidates from Tamil Nadu appeared for it.

A total of 16,000 aspirants have been trained in 413 NEET centres so far, out of which 4,000 aspirants who excelled and achieved high marks would be trained extensively for a period of 25 days at 10 colleges after the public exam is over, the Minister said.

“Furthermore, around 3,000 commerce students will be provided coaching for the Chartered Accountancy exam. Since there are an inadequate number of auditors in India to examine the GST, it was decided to encourage more auditors from Tamil Nadu,” he said.

A new course on skill training comprising 12 subjects would be included in the syllabus for Class 12 students next year to ensure job opportunities for those passing out.

Efforts were on to set up ‘Atal Tinkering Labs’ in 1,200 schools across the State aimed at honing the scientific skills of students.

He also added that 15 lakh laptops would be given to students by the end of this month. The State government has consulted with the Centre on providing laptops for students in Classes 8, 9 and 10.