CHENNAI: While senior National Eligibility cum Entrance Test officials told Express in May that only about 1,500 students from Tamil Nadu had to travel outside State to write their test, data released by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday revealed that a total of 7,314 students had to travel outside State to take the exam.
Out of the 1.2 lakh students from Tamil Nadu who registered for the exam, 1,14,602 students appeared for the exam. A total of 1,07,288 students wrote the exam within the State. The need for students to travel outside the State was widely regarded by public as inefficiency on the part of of the CBSE to accommodate all aspirants.
Some students had to travel overnight to take their exams in distant cities. Most students, who could not be accommodated within the State, travelled to Kerala, Andhra Pradhesh or Karnataka. However, some even had to go as far as Rajasthan and Sikkim to take the exam. Furthermore, students, who wrote their exams in other States, were given only Hindi or English Question papers. Students, who studied in Tamil-medium schools, could not opt for language of their choice in other States. Almost a fourth of all students from Tamil Nadu, who wrote NEET, took test in Tamil.
Girl commits suicide
A 17-year-old girl, Pradeepa from Peruvalur near Gingee in Villupuram district, committed suicide by consuming rat poison after she failed the exam. According to sources, she had appeared for the exam last year also and had cleared it, but did not join as she could not afford the private medical college fees.