CHENNAI: After a mediocre show by Tamil Nadu students in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2017, the State has passed an order earmarking 85 per cent of seats from the State quota to students of the State Board in medical course admissions.
The remaining 15 per cent will be reserved for students from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other boards, Health Minister C Vijaya Basker told reporters here on Saturday.
The move was to protect the interests of 4.2 lakh State Board students (biology streams) and get their due share in medical course admissions, he added. The fear was that the students from the CBSE schools could take away most of the medical seats since their CBSE background helped them score better in the NEET. Out of the 88,433 candidates who took up NEET this year, only 4,675 were from the CBSE background, that is, a mere 5.2 per cent. However, 15 per cent seats were appropriated for the CBSE and other board students.
This sub-quota reservation will be applicable only to the 85 per cent State quota seats and the remaining 15 per cent all-India quota seats will be filled by the Director General of Health Services through all India counselling scheduled for July 3. In Tamil Nadu, 456 out of the total 3,050 medical seats will be filled by the said process. The government order passed on Thursday will be applicable for the remaining 2,594 State quota seats.
Among this, 2,203 seats in 22 government medical colleges (including Rajah Muthiah Medical College, Chidambaram) and 664 seats in self-financing colleges will be apportioned only for State Board students. Similarly, 391 seats in government medical colleges and 119 in self-financing colleges will be open for CBSE and other board students.
Applications for this counselling will be available in all government medical colleges from June 27 and rank list based solely on NEET scores will be released on July 14, noted an official release from the State Health Department.
Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said that the counselling is scheduled for July 17, a day after the all-India counselling will be over.
“It was not that the State syllabus is inferior. It is different from NEET syllabus. For instance, nearly 50 per cent of biology questions in this year’s exam was not based on State Board syllabus,” Radhakrishnan added.
According to the recent Supreme Court direction, admissions for 1,650 seats in deemed universities in Tamil Nadu will take place through a separate counselling to be organised by the DGHS.
Responding to DMK members’ questions over reservation norms in the Assembly early on Saturday, the Minister clarified that there would be no change in communal rotation and 69 per cent of State quota seats would be reserved.