Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay reiterated Tamil Nadu’s demand to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test when he met Nandan Nilekani’s exam reforms task force on Wednesday. His demand that medical admissions be based on Class 12 marks reflects a position Tamil Nadu has maintained through changes in government. Vijay’s TVK has also proposed a special Concurrent List to give states greater power over education, pending its transfer to the State List. Vijay first outlined the idea in 2024 and his party raised it again during July’s student protests. This provides a basis for talks with the Centre.
Admission figures explain why Tamil Nadu has persisted with this stance. Government school students struggled to secure medical seats after NEET became compulsory in the state in 2017. The AIADMK government’s 7.5 percent quota for government school students later enabled hundreds to enter medical colleges. The A K Rajan committee, appointed by the DMK government, showed how students who could afford coaching and repeated attempts gained an advantage. The panel’s report also pointed out that repeaters accounted for 71.42 percent of MBBS admissions outside the 7.5 percent quota in 2020-21.
The quota has helped, but it has not removed the cost of competing. In 2023, 79 percent of eligible applicants under it were repeaters. All the top 10 rankers under the quota this year were repeaters. School-leavers must compete with candidates who can devote another year to preparing without the demands of simultaneously studying for board exams. The state government and educationists have also argued that the NEET syllabus favours CBSE students, putting state board students at a disadvantage and increasing their dependence on private coaching, which costs ₹1.5-3 lakh over a year. For a family struggling to make ends meet, finding that money and supporting another year of study can mean borrowing or forgoing other needs. The ability to pay cannot be baked into the system when exam scores are presented as an impartial measure of merit.
The Nilekani panel has been asked to consider accessibility and inclusion. That means looking at who gets left out, as well as how securely an exam is conducted. Preventing leaks alone will not correct the inequalities that students bring to the test. The Centre should engage seriously with Tamil Nadu’s case for a different admission system.
