CHENNAI: Actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam president Vijay, for the first time, strongly voiced his opinion against the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET), stating the exam is against the students from rural and socio-economically poor backgrounds, the rights of the states, and the diversity needed in education.
He said the news about irregularities in the examination has made people realise that there is no need of NEET in the country. Stating that he wholeheartedly welcomed the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu government in the Assembly against the all-India exam, he urged the Union government to respect the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu and grant the immediate relief by exempting the state from NEET, without delay.
He further said the permanent solution would be to move the subject of education back to the State List from the Concurrent List of the Constitution.
Earlier last week, during the function organised by his party last week for honouring achievers in Class 10 and 12 exams, Vijay had said he did not want to discuss politics. However, in the second instalment of the event organised on Wednesday, he said it would not be right if he did not talk about the important issue of NEET.
Addressing the students and parents, he said, “The real truth is that the students of Tamil Nadu, especially those in rural areas and from poor, backward, mostly backward and downtrodden sections have been affected a lot (by NEET)”.
Pointing out that he found three things to be problematic about NEET, he said the first is that it is against states’ rights. He said everyone knows that education is on the State list until 1975 and it was moved to the Concurrent List by the Union government. He, however, did not specifically mention that it was done by Congress during the Emergency.
The second issue, according to him, is that the exam is based on the idea of one nation, one curriculum and one exam, which he said, is against the objective of education. He said the curriculum should be according to the needs of each state. “Diversity is a strength, not a weakness,” he said and asked how it is fair for the students who studied under the state syllabus to take an exam based on NCERT syllabus. “Imagine how difficult this is for rural students (for their aspiration) for medical education,” he said.
He said the third issue is the irregularities reported in this year’s NEET, due to which people have lost faith in the exam.
Arguing that the permanent solution is to move education back to the State list, he suggested, “If there are any issues in making such a change, as an interim measure, an amendment to the Constitution should be made to create a Special Concurrent list where education and health should be added.” He said it is the Union government that exercised full control over the subjects in the Concurrent List and there is a need to give full powers to the state governments on certain items.
Interestingly, throughout his short speech, Vijay used “Ondriya (Union)” to refer to the Government of India, a term that has gained political significance after the present DMK government started using this instead of “central government,” to underscore its ideological standpoint that India is a Union of States.
DMK welcomes Vijay’s statement
Chennai: In a protest organised by DMK’s students wing and doctors wing against the NEET on Wednesday, the party’s organising secretary RS Bharathi welcomed actor Vijay’s statement and asserted that exams like NEET are designed to restrict educational opportunities for the students from socio-economically backward backgrounds. Later, speaking to journalists, he welcomed Vijay’s remarks, noting that the DMK has always opposed it, and now, it is widely recognised across the state. After the DMK’s protest, CM MK Stalin praised the demonstration, stating the slogans that echoed in the protest were precursors to victory.
Now even a dog can get a BA degree: Bharati
The protest taken out by the DMK’s students wing and doctors wing had its share of controversy. Addressing the protest, Bharathi recalled a time when securing a BA degree was a significant achievement, which people proudly mentioned along with their names. He noted that today, due to the widespread availability of education, which is a testament to the efforts of the Dravidian movement, many people complete multiple degrees. “Nowadays, even a dog can get a BA degree,” he said. The remark later drew wide spread criticism, drawing flak from AIADMK leader D Jayakumar and BJP state president K Annamalai condemned Bharathi’s remarks.