TN medical students demand scrapping of system that forces six month break on failed candidates, demand immediate supplementary

The Tamil Nadu Medical Students' Association members have submitted a letter to the Health Secretary demanding the scrapping of the 'break system'. The break system is basically what the students call the six month break they're forced to take when they fail an exam. 

The supplementary exam is scheduled six months after the final exam and in those six months the students are not allowed to attend any classes. The students lose out on an entire year because of the break. Therefore the students are requesting that the supplement be held within one month of the results because then they can join the same batch. 

"Six months is a huge gap in a medical student's life. Not just that, it also takes a financial toll on us. If its just one paper also I need to wait six months and I will lose pace, all the others in my class will be going ahead of me," Hari Ganesh, a member of the TNMSA said. Ganesh says the break is almost like punishment, "For the small mistakes that we take in our initial days that doesn't mean that we deserve to lose so many months," he added.

The students ran a signature campus and managed to get 5000 signature from students from medical colleges across the state. The letter and the signatures have been submitted to the Health Secretary, J Radhakrishnan who has said he will look into the matter.

This is not the first time that the students are protesting about this issues though. The first protests happened all the way back in 2005 and continued till 2009. After four years of protests, the Tamil Nadu MGR Medical University decided to cancel the 'break system' for the first year students. However, the system has continued for the rest of the semesters.

Dr G R Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors' Association For Social Equality has extended his support to the students,"The students should be able to clear their papers within a month, it disrupts the entire five-year plan if they have to wait unnecessarily for six months."