NEET exemption move meets with mixed reaction

Medical seat aspirants have mixed feelings about the announcement made by Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman that the State could be exempted from NEET.

Though the development has come as a surprise to students and parents, even those with good scores in Plus 2 are not confident that the announcement would mean that they would get admission in a medical college.

M. Senthilvel’s daughter Aarthy has a cut-off of 199.75 and was hoping to study medicine. She has been admitted to the Madras Veterinary College. But with a NEET score of 200, she stood little chance. “I am very happy,” she says of the announcement. With her Board marks, she would be admitted to the Madras Medical College.

She took ill after the board exams and could not attend the crash course at the school. “I lost marks in biology through negative marks. My school did not teach me how to approach NEET. Though the school offered coaching from August 2016, they suspended it and began focusing on board exams,” she says.

Her aunt, however, said, “We will wait till the ordinance is signed.”

S.D. Nandakumar is disappointed. His daughter has scored 1105 in Plus 2 and with a low cut-off is not expected to get into medicine. However, she had scored 382 marks in NEET. “She had invested time in NEET and only in the last 20 days she studied for board exams as the MCI norms stipulate that it is enough to score 70% marks. What will happen to the students who had believed in the system and took NEET,” he rues.

Another disappointed parent, whose son from the ICSE board had scored 477 marks in NEET, wanted to know if the Supreme Court would consider their appeal against the State’s ordinance.

P. Harini from Theni took a break to prepare for NEET. “Now, after the exams are done they are going for exemption,” says the aspirant, who got 1095 in Class 12. She scored 425 in NEET.