ARIYALUR: Days after the reported suicide of a NEET aspirant, a 17-year-old girl in Ariyalur district, who attended the test, ended her life on Monday night. Her parents said she was upset over a “difficult” question paper.
This is the second death in the last few days due to NEET exam, after Dhanush (19), a native of Salem had killed himself hours before the scheduled NEET exam on Sunday.
The victim, K Kanimozhi of Sathampadi, was the younger daughter of advocate-couple Karunanidhi and Vijayalakshmi. After scoring 469 marks on 500 in Class 10 in 2019, Kanimozhi started her higher secondary education at a Namakkal school. She scored 562 marks on 600 in the recently announced Class 12 board examination results.
Having simultaneously undergone coaching for NEET, she attempted the test at an exam centre in Thanjavur on Sunday. Kanimozhi’s parents took her to the centre and waited there till she finished the test. While returning home, the girl was reportedly worried about her performance as she had found the physics and chemistry sections difficult.
“We told her not to worry. We reached home by 8.30 pm. She did not eat dinner properly and went to bed,” recalled Karunanidhi. Her father tried to calm her down by mentioning the possibility of securing a seat through the MBC (V) quota.
On Monday morning, in a bid to comfort her, Karunanidhi took Kanimozhi to his office at Jayankondam as her mother was at a nearby village to attend a family function. “I dropped her at our house in Thularankurichi at 5 pm and went to pick up my wife. When we returned, all the doors of the house were shut and the lights were off. We shouted her name, but no reply came,” Karunanidhi said.
The girl’s body was taken to government Jayankondam hospital for autopsy on Tuesday. The Udayarpalayam police have registered a case.
Earlier, the DMK government on Monday passed a bill demanding the scrapping of national-level entrance exams for medical admission for the students of Tamil Nadu. The bill was passed with support of all legislator's barring the members from the BJP.
After paying respects to the girl’s body at the village, Backward Classes Welfare Minister S S Sivasankar said the chief minister is taking measures to get the president’s nod for the Bill. He also handed over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to the bereaved family on behalf of the DMK. Ariyalur district has witnessed three suicides over NEET in the past few years.
Condoling the girl’s death, CM MK Stalin, in a statement on Tuesday, said: “We will take all efforts to scrap NEET, which is disrupting equality in education. We will not make any compromise in the legal battle until the president’s consent is received for the Bill.” Opposition leader Edappadi K Palaniswami urged students to not resort to any extreme step over NEET. “There are around 40 allied subjects in the medical field that don’t need NEET qualification. Those who discover medicines for diseases are not doctors. As such, students, after completing Class 12, can also prepare for such subjects of medical education,” he said.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said this year the State would hold counselling for admission to undergraduate medical courses at district level for the convenience of students. He will also inaugurate counselling sessions for students who appeared for NEET and are depressed. The minister will launch the counselling session at the State 104 helpline office on the DMS campus.
Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on Tamil Nadu Health Department's helpline 104, Sneha'ssuicide prevention helpline 044-24640050, and N Damodaran Centenary Lifeline Number for Suicide Prevention 1800-121-203040, under the name 'Prana'.