NEET: one more life lost in Tamil Nadu

One more student died by suicide in Tamil Nadu allegedly due to fear of NEET outcome. The girl student who had appeared for NEET on Sunday was scared of faring poorly in the examination. When the parents were away at work, she died by suicide.

Vellore (Tamil Nadu): Two days after a girl student committed suicide over the fear of failing in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), another student from the state took her life on Wednesday. She had appeared for the examination on Sunday but was quite depressed over the outcome, according to the family.

Police said Soundarya, 17, daughter of Thirunavukkarasu and Rukmani hailed from Thalaiyarampattu village near Katpadi in Vellore district. The girl, who had studied in a government school at Thottapalayam in Vellore, secured 510 marks out of 600 in the Plus 2 examinations.

After she returned from the examination, the girl was scared of the outcome of the exam. She has been confiding with her family and relatives that she had done the exam poorly. Earlier in the day, her parents, both daily wage labourers, had left for work when she took the drastic step.

The girl's death came to light when the mother returned to the house. Latheri police, on information, recovered the dead body and moved it for the postmortem examination at Vellore Government Medical College Hospital.

This is the third death related to NEET reported within a week's time. On Sunday, when the NEET was held across the state, Dhanush from Salem district died by suicide. He had appeared for NEET twice earlier but could not clear it. After studying the entire night for the exam, the boy took the extreme step on Sunday early morning.

Read: Class XII topper ends life over NEET

On Monday, Kanimozhi from Sathampadi village in Ariyalur district died by suicide after attending the examination on Sunday. Kanimozhi was a school topper in the Plus 2 examinations.

Tamil Nadu Government on Monday passed a bill against NEET in the state assembly. The Bill aims to provide admission to undergraduate medical degree courses on the basis of the marks obtained in the qualifying examination, through normalisation methods and not through the centralised medical examination. The Bill stated that the panel set up by the Tamil Nadu government had found students hailing from lower socio-economic backgrounds are most affected the centralized medical examination.

The most affected social groups were the students of Tamil medium, coming from rural backgrounds, students from government schools, those having a parental income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh per annum, and the socially depressed and disadvantaged groups like the Most Backward Classes, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Bill said.

Suicide is not the solution to any problem. In case of suicidal thoughts, it is good to seek help from experts. Residents of Tamil Nadu can contact the government helpline number 104 or contact Sneha Foundation at 044-24640050. The email id for the foundation is help@snehaindia.org

Read: Medical Admissions: TN Attempts to Retrieve Autonomy