560 NEET centres to stop students from going to other states

Last year, only 212 were set up and more than 5,000 medical aspirants in the State, especially from rural areas, were forced travel to other States to write the test. “This year a total of 560 schools across the State will have NEET exam centres so that even students from other States could be accommodated,” a senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next. He added that they are making arrangements to provide all the facilities for the students.

The official said though the exam centres for the students will be generated by the computer system, the State had given the list of additional exam centres to the Ministry of Human Resource development (MHRD).

The ministry has established National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct NEET exams. “NTA will ensure that all the candidates from Tamil Nadu are allocated exam centres that are near them,” the official said adding several updates were made in the software that manages NEET exams.

According to him, about 1.40 lakh candidates from Tamil Nadu will appear for NEET exams this year compared to 1.13 lakh students last year.

He said over 20,000 government school students, who got free NEET coaching, have registered to appear for NEET. “Those students have secured help from the experts for online registration to ensure they would also get their choice of exam centre.” The official pointed out that last year several students had troubles during the online registration process as it was complicated. He said the hall ticket for NEET exam could be downloaded from April 15. The NEET (UG) exam will be held on May 5 and about 15 lakh students are expected to appear across the country. The results will be published in June.

As per regulations framed under the Indian Medical Council Act, NEET is mandatory to seek admissions for medical and dental colleges, which are functioning with the approval of the council.