Dream comes true for girl who did not take medical seat in 2020 over fee fear

S Thangapetchi had to let go of the seat in her maiden attempt due to financial constraints.
Image used for representational purposes (File photo | Express)
Image used for representational purposes (File photo | Express)

MADURAI:18-year-old S Thangapetchi, from Paanamoopanpatti village, is all smiles as she has secured an MBBS seat again in her second NEET attempt.

Though the teenager had cleared the national entrance test in November 2020, she had to let go of the seat due to financial constraints. Adding to the misery, then Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced a 7.5 per cent quota reservation, bearing the educational expenses of government school students. The announcement came two days after she forfeit the seat.

Missing the 7.5 per cent quota by a whisker, Thangapetchi, the eldest of four sisters, born into a family of agricultural labourers, was determined to become a doctor and appeared for NEET the second time in September last year and scored 256 marks. Thangapetchi had scored 155 in her maiden NEET attempt in September 2020, preparing by herself.

A student of Government Kallar Higher Secondary School in Vikramangalam and hailing from a Most Backward Class (MBC) community, Thangapetchi attended nearly eight months of coaching at a private institute in Simmakkal for her second attempt, said her uncle V Alagarsamy.

"The institute waived the fee (costing around `50,000) after learning Thangapetchi's plight through media reports," he added.

Thangapetchi who got admission to Sree Mookambika Institute of Medical Sciences at Kanniyakumari on Friday told TNIE, "I was dejected when I could not join medical college despite getting a chance through the horizontal reservation. But, the one-year lag gave me time to understand concepts and prepare better. Since I studied in Tamil medium, I found it hard to familiarise myself with the Science terminologies in English, the language in which questions are asked in NEET. Today, I am very happy to have finally got an MBBS seat after scoring 101 more marks than last time's."

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