NEET UG Result 2024: Why is Tamil Nadu government against NEET and what is it doing about it?

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has said he would put an end to entrance test "scams" like the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses and ensure unhindered access to education. He asserted that education is the only asset that no one can steal. "But even in that we are seeing entrance test scams like the NEET. That's why we are opposing it strongly."

Stalin’s remarks came during a school education department function where he emphasized Tamil Nadu’s long-standing opposition to NEET, a view that has now resonated across the nation. "Even in education, we're witnessing scams like NEET. That's why we're strongly opposing it," Stalin stated.

The controversy around NEET intensified with the latest results. This year, a staggering 67 candidates secured the top rank with the maximum score, compared to a maximum of three in previous years. Additionally, around 1,500 candidates received grace marks due to "loss of time" and 44 toppers were awarded extra marks because of inaccuracies in an NCERT textbook. In response, the National Testing Agency and the Education Ministry have formed a committee to review these results. Calls for a Supreme Court-supervised probe and cancellation of the results have also been made by political leaders and some candidates have approached the courts.

Upon assuming office in 2021, Stalin's administration formed a High-Level Committee led by Justice A K Rajan to analyze the impact of NEET. The Rajan Committee's findings were stark: NEET has disproportionately affected rural students, Tamil-medium students, those from lower-income families, and state board students. While English-medium and urban students saw increased admissions, the share of poorer students and Tamil-medium students plummeted.

Specifically, the Rajan Committee found that from 2010-11 to 2016-17, Tamil-medium students secured between 14.88% to 19.79% of medical college seats. Post-NEET, their share dropped drastically to between 1.6% and 3.27%. Conversely, the share of English-medium students skyrocketed from 85.12% to 98.41%. Similarly, the representation of students from rural areas in government medical colleges fell from 61.5% to 49.91% post-NEET, while urban students' share increased from 38.55% to 50.09%.

Students from families earning less than Rs 2.5 lakh annually saw their admissions fall from 41% to 36%, while those from higher-income families increased their share from 58% to 62%. The representation of state board students also fell, as CBSE students gained a significant edge in admissions.

The committee concluded that NEET has undermined diverse societal representation in medical education, favoring affluent sections of society. It recommended eliminating NEET from the admission process, using normalized HSC scores, and considering socio-economic adversities to ensure a fairer evaluation.

Following these recommendations, Tamil Nadu passed a bill in 2021 to exempt the state from NEET, aiming to base admissions on Class 12 marks. Despite being passed unanimously by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and returned by the Governor in 2022, the bill is still awaiting Presidential assent.