On August 14, 2023, Selvasekar tried calling his 19-year-old child multiple times but was met with no response. Hours later, he found out that his son, Jagadeeswaran, died by suicide after he failed to clear the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) despite two attempts. Unable to cope with grief of the loss of his son, Selvasekar died by suicide a day later.
Jagadeeswaran’s death takes the toll to 16 NEET-related suicides in Tamil Nadu only this year. In 2020, 14 suicides were officially reported in connection with the NEET, up from seven in 2019. The twin deaths sparked fresh debate against the exam, which the DMK-led government has vociferously opposed.
Why is Tamil Nadu opposed to NEET?
Six years ago, NEET was made mandatory for securing admission in a medical institution in the country. The test was introduced by the then Medical Council of India (MCI) in an attempt to override the malaise of capitation fees, and ensure that students are selected based on a single, standardized test rather than multiple state-level exams.
Education experts have criticised the exam for placing utmost importance on marks over quality of education and aptitude, effectively reinforcing a rote-learning system of education.
Over the years, many students from rural areas and students studying in state board-affiliated schools have lost out on securing pass marks in the exam despite scoring good marks in board exams, after failing to compete with students from urban backgrounds who have greater access to coaching resources for such competitive exams.
One such student was Shanmugam Anitha. She scored 1176/1200 in the Class 12 exams in the Tamil Nadu State Board in 2017. Her score was perfect in numbers but not perfect enough to pass the NEET exam. Anitha had scored just 86 marks out of 720 in the test. Up until that year, medical college admissions in Tamil Nadu were conducted solely based on the Class 12 examination marks. But admissions in 2018 were conducted solely on the basis of NEET scores.
The matter reached the Supreme Court, wherein the court ordered that admissions should be made only based on NEET. "Any further appeal against NEET can only be done to God," the court noted, ruling that the Tamil Nadu government could no longer do anything for State Board students after the Supreme Court verdict.
Anitha, who was a Dalit student and the only student in Ariyalur district to score 100 percent marks in Physics and Mathematics, died by suicide nine days after the verdict.
Years later, medical aspirants continue to be at the receiving end of cut-throat competition. “Apart from family expectations to secure admission in a government college, there is immense pressure owing to repeated failures in the exam,” says Priyanshi, who is preparing for the NEET medical entrance exam. She has been preparing for two years now. “One does feel like giving up at times,” says Priyanshi.
The Government of Tamil Nadu constituted a Committee on June 19, 2021, under the chairmanship Justice Dr. A. K. Rajan, Former Judge, Madras High Court to study whether the NEET-based admission process has adversely affected students coming from poor families who studied in Tamil medium in government schools in the State. This is what the committee observed:
What had happened during the NEET period is exactly the opposite of what the Committee had wished for; students who can afford to pay such an exorbitant fee have more opportunities than those who cannot pay. If medical education is to be affordable to and accessible by all people, it will not be possible without a fair and equitable admission process and criteria and a proper fee regulation. Contrary to this, the NEET does not seem to help achieve the much required diversity.
NEET politics
The opposition to NEET is also rooted in the politics of control over education-related matters between the state and the centre. The state government moved the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the NEET for admissions in medical courses in colleges across the nation, alleging that the single window common test is violative of the principle of federalism, as it takes away the autonomy of states to make decisions regarding education.
The previous AIADMK regime brought two Bills against the exam — The Tamil Nadu Admission to MBBS and BDS Courses Bill 2017, and The Tamil Nadu Admission to Postgraduate Courses in Medicine and Dentistry Bill, 2017 — that sought for state autonomy in medical admissions, with board examination scores for UG courses and undergraduate marks for PG courses as the entry point. These Bills were returned by the President in September 2017.
Months after M K Stalin became Chief Minister in September 2021, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed The Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021, with the support of all parties, except the BJP, which staged a walkout. The Bill sought to dispense with NEET and allow admission to medical courses based on Class 12 marks to “ensure social justice”.
The Bill said NEET fosters inequity and favours the rich who can afford special coaching, while raising entry barriers for the underprivileged. The state was the competent authority to regulate admissions for underprivileged social groups, as medical courses were traceable to the provisions of the Constitution, the Bill read.
Governor RN Ravi sat on the Bill for months before returning it to the government in February 2022. The Assembly readopted the Bill within days, and the Governor told the CM that it would be forwarded to the President. The Bill remains pending with Rashtrapati Bhavan. The DMK government and Governor have been at loggerheads over the issue, which adds to the standoff between Governors appointed by the BJP-led Centre and their respective state governments, especially in South India.
Just a few days ago, Governor R N Ravi, said he would “never, ever” assent to the anti-NEET Bill passed by the Assembly, on the same day that 19-year-old topper Jagadeeswaran died by suicide.
If not NEET, then what?
Education experts point out that Tamil Nadu has historically been opposed to the idea of ‘One Nation One Entrance Test’.
“An entire generation of students never knew they would have to sit for entrance exams because that has never been the norm. It was always purely based on Class 12 marks,” says Manickavel Arumugam, medical education counsellor and expert on NEET. If the NEET is ever abolished, the state’s proposal is to return to the Class 12 marks as an entry to medical institutions, and to avoid any form of entrance exam, Arumugam says.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Monday assured students that NEET will be scrapped. He also asked them not to harbour any suicidal tendencies but to face life with self-confidence. “The NEET, which is a hurdle for your growth, will be scrapped. The state government is actively working on the legal initiative in this direction," Stalin said in the statement.
