CBSE move to allot Kerala NEET centres to TN students slammed

Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System, condemned the CBSE’s move and said the decision to allot NEET exam centres outside the state was arbitrary. 

The NEET under-graduate exam would be conducted on May 6 and lakhs of students have applied for it. However, when students in southern districts received their hall ticket, they were in for a shock as their exam centre was Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Though a petition was filed in the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, the CBSE filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying it does not have time for re-allocation of centres. Accepting its argument, the court directed students of Tamil Nadu to write the exams in the allotted centres. 

Parents and educationists were cut up over the order since they have only two days left for the exam. Babu said the CBSE had not consulted the state government on allocating centres. As there were enough centres in the state, it was arbitrary on the part of the board to allot centres for students outside Tamil Nadu. 

Students from the economically disadvantaged sections could not spend money on travel, stay and food when they go to other states for the exam and so they may not be able to write the exams. This was an attempt to exclude students from rural areas and include only those who can afford to spend for the exam, said Babu. 

Muthukumar, a parent from Madurai, said his daughter’s examination centre was at Ernakulam and since students had to enter the centre by 7.30 am, they will have to reach a day earlier. 

Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) on Thursday said it will soon announce admission to UG courses. V-C Dr C Balachandran said admission to veterinary courses will be conducted based on Class 12 marks. His statement comes against the backdrop of reports saying that students, who wanted to pursue veterinary courses, were confused whether the Tanuvas admissions will be based on the NEET exams.

Political parties have expressed their displeasure over the Supreme Court’s ruling that students from Tamil Nadu should write their NEET examination in other states. In a statement on Thursday, PMK founder S Ramadoss said, “It is shocking that the top court has passed the ruling that as per Centre’s direction, students can write NEET in Kerala and Rajasthan and there was no change in this direction. The Centre’s act is highly condemnable.” “Even while the Madras High Court stayed the Centre’s decision that students should appear for the NEET examination in centres in other states, the apex court quashed the stay. This is social injustice,” the PMK leader said. Similarly, R Mutharasan, state secretary of CPI, said, “The Supreme Court’s ruling is unacceptable, and the top court does not seem to have understood the feelings of TN students. It is clear that it is an attack on medical aspirants and it is continuing.” Even the state government, which should have taken appropriate measures, has miserably failed. “At least, the state government could have held a meeting with union ministers to stop the CBSE from allotting centres in other states,” he pointed out.