A student from the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, who drew Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's attention on February 3, urged him to initiate a nation-wide struggle against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses.The student thanked him for intensifying the opposition to the test.
N Sathish caught Stalin's attention, who was proceeding to the Secretariat on TTK Road in Chennai, by holding a placard which read “CM sir, help me” and thanked him for opposing NEET. Though he scored good marks in the Class XII Board exam in Andhra Pradesh, he could not pursue a degree in Medicine due to NEET, he said. According to a release from the government, Sathish sought the Chief Minister's support for anti-NEET sentiments in Andhra Pradesh as well.
The Chief Minister explained the legal measures that are being taken against NEET and asked him to return to his hometown. The student thanked the Chief Minister for his gesture, the release added. It is significant that this incident happened just a couple of days after the Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi returned the anti-NEET Bill to the state Assembly Speaker. The Bill adopted by the Assembly in September last year, sought to admit students to UG medical degree programmes on the basis of Class XII scores, instead of making them appear for another exam.
After a detailed study of the Bill that sought an exemption for the state from NEET and the report of the high-level committee constituted by the state government in this regard, the Governor was “of the opinion that the Bill is against the interests of students, especially the rural and economically poor students of the state,” a one-page press release from the Raj Bhavan said. Hence, the Governor has returned the Bill to the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on February 1, 2022.
