A Dalit student, who filed a case against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical entrance examination before the Supreme Court, has reportedly committed suicide by hanging herself. She was upset over not being able to get a seat in a medical college. The 17-year-old girl, named S Anitha, took the extreme step when she was alone at her home in Kuzhumur village near Sendurai taluka of Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district. Her father is a daily wage labourer.
According to reports, Anitha had secured 1176 marks out of 1200 in her Class XII State board examinations. However, she could only secure 86 marks out of 700 in her NEET examination, which is based on CBSE syllabus and thus, she was not familiar with it. She scored high cut-off marks of 199.75 for engineering and 196.75 for medicine. The teenager, while challenging NEET before the apex court, had said that she would be able to study medicine if the admission to a medical college was based on her Class XII board exam results.
Angry villagers blocked the road and blamed Centre and the state government for Anitha’s death.
On September 22 last year, the Supreme Court had directed the Tamil Nadu government to begin medical examinations based on NEET. The verdict was issued after the Narendra Modi government refused to endorse the state’s ordinance seeking exemption from the newly-introduced exam for a period of a year. Anitha was visibly shocked to know that she would have to pass NEET as well for a medical seat. She had said that her poor financial condition did not allow her to spend money on coaching as the NEET examination was based on CBSE syllabus.
Facing pressure from other parties, Tamil Nadu government approached the Centre for exemption. During the late Jayalalithaa’s tenure, the state had got exemption of two years but the ruling party AIADMK got embroiled in infighting and hence took no measures to extend the process. Later on, the Centre decided to give a year’s exemption if the Tamil Nadu government passed a resolution. But the Supreme Court prohibited the admission of students from any way other than NEET.
Also read: Twins from Rohtak who cracked NEET 2017 now seek admission together in the same college
Source: India Today
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