CHENNAI: To get Tamil Nadu exempted from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), DMK’s Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson has moved the Medical Education Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021. The private member Bill was listed in the Parliament on Friday. The Bill aims at amending certain enactments pertaining to medical education in India.
“It has been felt across the country that NEET not only gives students studying in CBSE schools an upper hand but also greatly disadvantages economically weaker sections of the society,” the Bill stated. According to the proposed legislation, the NEET should be opposed on three basis grounds -- (i) the examination completely decimates the right of the State to regulate medical education; (ii) it is largely based on the CBSE syllabus thereby placing students from other streams of education at an obvious disadvantage; (iii) It requires extra coaching at a considerable cost apart from ordinary school education and not everybody can afford the same.
The proposed legislation also underscored that the number of students applying for NEET was on the decline compared to previous years. Students passing out from the State Board are not able to afford the requisite coaching to clear NEET. In fact, most of the candidates from State syllabus who did apply were comparatively older than other, indicating that the might have taken the test multiple times before.
The Bill further stated that it is necessary to amend Section 10-D of the Dentists Act, 1948, to grant exemption to States opting out of the Uniform Entrance Examination. “It is also necessary to amend the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, which provides for a National Eligibility- cum Entrance Test under Section 14, and a National Exit Test under Section 15 of the Act to exempt States from holding NEET and EXIT tests,” it added.
Though the Bill was moved by MP P Wilson, it was not introduced by him on Friday as all DMK members had staged a walk-out to protest against the suspension of TMC’s Santanu Sen from the Upper House.