Chennai: Courting controversy is nothing new for Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and his latest remark on the state performing well in NEET exam has invited the wrath of the ruling DMK. It is no secret that the Raj Bhavan and the elected government are on a collision course on many issues. Given the uneasy relationship, Ravi has once again found him at the receiving end.
When the NEET results were out, the governor said that students of Tamil Nadu have beaten their counterparts in big states by achieving higher pass percentages. He also gave a piece of advice to those who have failed not to get baffled or disheartened as it is a temporary setback and they could taste success by putting in more effort in subsequent attempts.
It has not gone down well with the DMK, which has pledged to secure exemption from NEET for Tamil Nadu. It is also an important poll plank of the DMK in the assembly election. Moreover, the Bill passed by the Assembly in this regard is yet to get presidential assent and the delay is partly due to the Raj Bhavan sitting over it. Taking strong exception to these remarks, “Murasoli”, on Monday asked what was the compulsion for the governor to come out in support of NEET even without checking the relevant data?
Had he checked the data on NEET results, he would not have released such a statement, it said and gave details of where the state stands, compared with the all-India statistics as well. Questioning the Governor's assertion, the DMK paper said, “of the total 1,32,167 candidates who appeared for the exam, only 67,187 have cleared it which is 51.30 per cent. Even nationally, the pass percentage is not witnessing any jump with nearly half of the aspirants failing to crack it in the last three years.”
“A lone student from Madurai securing 30th rank cannot be taken as proof that TN had overcome other states. Media reports too show that only students from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, as well as Delhi and Haryana, are succeeding in NEET shows,” the editorial reads adding that this is akin to the elections in north Indian states. Castigating NEET as the brainchild of few private institutions and unscrupulous bureaucrats, the paper said, “the advertisement blitzkrieg by coaching centres in the media after the NEET results were out and the faces therein would clearly show for whom NEET is beneficial. Only those who could afford to pay in lakhs for coaching could get through NEET and secure admission in a medical programme.”
“It is a big lie that NEET has prevented money bags and non-meritorious candidates from grabbing medical seats. Of the total 720 marks in the NEET exam, a candidate has to secure 117 marks to pass out,” the editorial said, adding that with such a low score those with money could get medical seats in private colleges while those from marginalised communities get filtered out.
Not only the DMK is opposed to NEET, there is near political unanimity on this in the state, barring the BJP. Even the principal opposition AIADMK, an ally of the BJP, is on board in this respect. The state has abolished the entrance examination for both medical and engineering admissions, taking only the Higher Secondary (Plus Two) marks as the sole criteria. Since the intake of government school students in state-run medical colleges has come down to a single digit after NEET, a 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation has been provided for them. Of the 46 medical education institutions in Tamil Nadu, 37 are state-run colleges.
MBBS continues to be an aspirational one in the state and ever since an aspirant Anita, daughter of a daily wager who scored 1176 out of 1200 in plus two, committed suicide in 2017, anti-NEET sentiment had got entrenched in the state that every major political party is clamouring either for its repeal or exemption. But, more importantly, the DMK and its allies see NEET as a tool usurping state autonomy in the educational domain.
