Taking a turn different than the other parties, Puthiya Tamizhagam criticised the leaders who are seeking exemption for Tamil Nadu students from the NEET exam. Tamizhagam said that the parties should be encouraging the students to take the exam and come on the merit list.
Another leader, Dr. K Krishnasamy, added that the students of Tamil Nadu are at par with the students of other states and are capable of clearing entrance exams such as the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). He also said that the state must work on preparing students for these exams.
Dr. K Krishnasamy also rebuffed the arguments that the political parties had put forth. These parties justified the exemption saying that rural students and urban students coming from poor backgrounds will not be able to compete with CBSE students.
Former MLA and a doctor, Dr. K Krishnasamy argued that close to 30,000 students from Tamil Nadu have taken admission in medical colleges in the past 10 years and 300 of these students were from the rural areas.
There are around 6,500 seats in government and private medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. Krishnasamy added that the students of the state can secure admissions in at least 85% of the seats on the basis of NEET merit list.
Disregarding the details of the admission procedure, Tamil Nadu political parties have been blaming the ruling party and the central government for the NEET controversy. Krishnasamy also added that there is no need to talk to the centre regarding exemption of the state from NEET exam.
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He also informed that Puthiya Tamizhagam will be demonstrating the issue across all district headquarters on August 1, 2017, and will be encouraging the selection of students on the basis of NEET score.
Addressing the state government, Krishnasamy said that bringing an ordinance will not be a solution to this problem. While all other states have commenced medical counselling with August 1 as the deadline, students of Tamil Nadu are confused and unsure whether they will be able to take admission in a medical course or not, he added.
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DMK, AIADMK and other state-based parties have been opposing NEET on the grounds that the students passing out from state board schools, specifically those who come from rural backgrounds, will face difficulties while competing with CBSE students.