CHENNAI: Attendance for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) re-examination conducted on Sunday dropped to around 75%, compared to over 95% recorded during the original examination held on May 3. Officials said the trend was seen across several districts in the state.
The re-examination was ordered after the May 3 NEET-UG test was cancelled following allegations of a paper leak, affecting over 22 lakh candidates nationwide. The original examination had recorded a national attendance of 96.92%.
In the 43 examination centres under the Chennai City region, 17,273 of 22,115 registered candidates appeared for the re-test, recording 78.1% attendance. In Kancheepuram, 1,624 candidates (76.5%) appeared out of 2,123 registered candidates.
In Chengalpattu, attendance fell from 96.1% on May 3 to 75.1% on Sunday, with 4,811 of 6,405 candidates appearing. In Tiruvallur, it dropped from 96.5% to 75.8%, with 2,465 of 3,253 candidates writing the examination.
In Madurai, 8,565 aspirants were registered across 14 centres. Of these, 6,384 candidates appeared, while 2,181 remained absent, marking nearly 75% attendance. Officials said around 25% of candidates were absent. Over 100 observers were deployed, and the Tamil Nadu State Trnsport Corporation (TNSTC) operated special buses for candidates.
Speaking to TNIE, NEET coordinator for government coaching S Vennila Devi said around 500 aspirants who had attended free government coaching wrote the examination, including 350 from government schools and the rest from aided schools.
School Education Director and State NEET Nodal Officer S Kannappan said attendance in districts hovered around 75%, though the overall state figure was not yet available.
Several factors contributed to the decline, including admissions already secured in other courses and reluctance to reappear due to stress and uncertainty. Students and coaching representatives also said Physics was the toughest section, while Biology was easy and Chemistry moderate, with the paper overall slightly tougher than the May 3 exam.
Aspirant kills self in Hosur ahead of retest
KRISHNAGIRI: A 20-year-old MBBS aspirant from Hosur died by suicide on Saturday, a day before the NEET retest. The deceased, C Vetriyanandam, completed schooling in 2023 at a private institution and had taken NEET-UG four times, including last month’s exam which was cancelled following an alleged paper leak.
His father, R Chinnasamy, works at a pharmaceutical company. Police said his mother found him dead at home after returning from a shop when his father was at work. The body was sent to Government District Headquarters Hospital in Hosur for post-mortem, and a complaint was lodged at HUDCO police station. Further probe is on.
(For those who are in distress, contact TN’s suicide helpline at 104 or Sneha’s helpline at 044- 24640050).
