Tamil Nadu Mulls to Abolish NEET 2017

The Tamil Nadu government aims to introduce a bill in the assembly to abolish the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for UG admissions in 2022. After removing NEET exam, admissions to Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) will be conducted, based on 10+2 marks or equivalent. This move might be executed in other states as well.

NEET registrations have been delayed by six weeks due to CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), still deciding over the syllabus of the exam.
When Supreme Court made NEET compulsory for all medical admissions, only the institutions under the central government were left out. Tamil Nadu’s former Chief Minister Late J Jayalalithaa, had urged the Centre last year to not force NEET on MBBS and dental courses in the future, since it would disrupt certain government policies and welfare initiatives of the government.

Tamil Nadu state government has always opposed the common entrance examination. The ruling party and the opposition had an ongoing blame game regarding Kannada not being included as one of the languages for conducting NEET in 2022-18.

C. Vijayabaskar, Minister of Health and Family Welfare said that since the NEET CBSE syllabus is different from the state board, the economically weaker sections will get affected. He also further stated that the 10+2 exams itself play the role of an entrance examination to get admission into higher education courses, and so there is hardly a need for an entrance exam.