The state of Tamil Nadu has been protesting against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for several years now but the Centre has no plans of exempting the state from the exam.
“At present, all states have accepted NEET. We cannot exempt just one state from the exam,” Union Minister for the Ministry of Human Resources Department Prakash Javadekar said in an interview to Puthiya Thalaimurai on Thursday. He also added that NEET will be conducted in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.
NEET has been under much scrutiny in the state of Tamil Nadu, so much so that both the AIADMK and the DMK have promised changes regarding the exam in their election manifestos. While the DMK has promised that the exam will be abolished, the AIADMK (which has allied with the BJP) took a softer stance and said that it would aim to bring the state temporary exemption from the exam. Javadekar’s latest statements, however, contradict this.
The exam was held on May 5 this year and saw students from all around the country writing it. A re-examination is being conducted on May 20 for students from Odisha who were unable to write due to Cyclone Fani and for students in Karnataka who missed the exam due to a train delay.
This year is the first time that the NEET was being administered by the National Testing Agency, which had taken over the responsibility from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The exam is held for admission to medical and dental seats in colleges across India, barring the institutions established through an Act of Parliament, including JIPMER (Puducherry) and AIIMS (Delhi). After the results are declared, counselling sessions will be conducted to allocate students admissions to the courses.