Chennai, June 21:
Amid widespread demand for abolition of NEET exams in the wake of spate of suicide and leaders cutting across party lines speaking in one voice seeking exemption, two medical aspirants committed suicide in Tamil Nadu due to fear of clearing the exams, even as PMK renewed its call for abolition of NEET exams.
While Gopika, a 12th standard student ended her life by hanging at Vellalapuram area near Edappadi in Salem district, in the other incident Anukeerthana committed suicide by consuming posn at Coimbatore.during the last two days triggering fresh demands for its abolition.
The tragic incidents occurred in the backdrop of chief Minister Vijay repeatedly urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to exempt Tamil Nadu from the purview of NEET exams and allow the state to admit students for UG medical courses based on Plus-2 marks, a demand supported by all parties, including the main Opposition DMK.
Expressing shock over the double suicide incidents which have snuffed out the lives of promising medical aspirants, PMK President and Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss insisted that only solution to end the spate of suicides was to abolish the “killer” NEET exams.
In a statement here on Saturday, he said “with the NEET exam, which was cancelled due to a question paper leak, set to be re-conducted tomorrow, I was shocked and saddened to hear the news that a student named Gopika from Vellalapuram area near Edappadi in Salem district committed suicide by hanging herself, fearing what the results would be. I express my deepest condolences and sympathies to her family”.
Gopika, a 12th-grader at Salem Fort Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School, was unable to join medical school after appearing in the NEET exam last year but scored low marks. As a result, the student, who was preparing for the NEET exam again this year, has commtted suicide due to fear and anxiety that she will not be able to succeed this time too.
Anbumani, who is also a former Union Health Minister said already a student from Coimbatore, Anukeerthana, committed suicide by consuming poison due to the same reason. Before the anxiety and stress caused by this subsided, another student committed suicide in Salem district. It was unbearable to see two students committing suicide within two days.
In the last decade, more than 200 people nationally and 40 in Tamil Nadu have committed suicide after NEET was made mandatory in 2017. Apart from paving the way for student suicides, the student killer NEET has not brought about any change, he claimed.
Observing that NEET is unnecessary for Tamil Nadu, Anbumani said statistics of the last 10 years clearly show that NEET has not helped in any way to improve the quality of medical education or prevent the commercialization of medical education.
Although the PMK, an ally of the AIADMK-led NDA, which also has BJP, has been continuously insisting on cancelling the NEET exam, the central government has not listened to it, he said.
Calling for an immediate end to student suicides, he said the NEET exam should be cancelled at the national level. If that is not possible, Tamil Nadu’s request of exempting it from the purview of NEET, should be accepted.