While the CB-CID investigation into the NEET impersonation cases in Tamil Nadu has exposed a larger racket, the state School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan, in a recent interview, brushed off his department’s responsibility in the matter saying that it stops with coaching students.
Speaking at an event held at an engineering college in Coimbatore on Saturday, the minister said that health and family welfare minister C Vijaya Baskar had already responded on the topic. “The government has already given its response on what will happen going forward, which is sufficient,” he said.
Explaining that the scam was exposed based on their department’s action following Theni College’s Dean’s complaint, Minister Vijaya Baskar had said, “We have requested CBSE to implement biometric sytems while conducting exams and the same will be used by our selection committee to double check the candidate’s identity.”
The minister went on to elaborate the state’s hand in training students for the national level entrance test for medical courses stating that 49.46% students passed with minimum marks. “Two government school students have got medical seats and training is being given in such a manner that next year this number increases to 500,” he said.
Sengottaiyan also insisted that Class 11 and 12 textbooks hold the key to cracking NEET since they have been compiled in such a manner. On Tamil being removed from TNPSC exams, the minister passed the buck to minister Jayakumar and agreed with the points already made on the topic.
The minister also made the following announcements: government school students will undergo self-defence training from October; buses will be operated exclusively for students in the morning and evening hours; Class 9 and 10 students will be provided 10 computers with internet connection while 20 computers will be provided for Class 12 students.
The CB-CID in Chennai arrested three more medical students along with their fathers on Saturday, following a tip-off that the students allegedly used proxy candidates to clear their NEET exam. The arrests were made less than a week after Udit Surya, a student from Theni Medical College, was found to have used a proxy candidate who wrote the NEET exam for him in Mumbai and cleared it. Udit, along with his parents, were arrested from Tirupati on Thursday after they went missing from their house in Chennai.