Government’s move to give 15% to other boards flayed

Irked by the decision, Dr G R Ravindranath, General Secretary, Doctors’ Association for Social Equality (DASE), said, “It is unfair of the government to make such a decision. Allocating 15 per cent of the seats to students from other boards is a great injustice rendered to students of the state board.” 

“The government has introduced this reservation to hide its inability to get the President’s assent for exemption from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for the Tamil Nadu government controlled medical seats,” he opined.

It may be recalled that the state government had passed two Bills in the Assembly, demanding exemption from the Common Entrance Test, which continued to remain with the Supreme Court. 

“Why didn’t the state government push for the bills to be either passed or rejected? It should have said that it will not notify the admissions unless the Union government did that. Without the Bill being forwarded or rejected, how can we go for counselling? What was the need for the state government to come out with a notification? It was merely a move to save the government’s face,” educationist Prince Gajendra Babu said. 

Though there are a lot of differences in the state of Tamil Nadu, it is felt that as far as the NEET is concerned, if the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanismay is ready, all parties will be willing to come together under his leadership to meet the Prime Minister. “The state government should have continued its fight demanding exemption instead of having given in and come up with such a provision. The entire process of introducing the test was very unjust. All political parties should raise their voice to retrieve the rights of the state in medical education,” added Dr Ravindranath.