NEET not suitable for BPT, BOT admissions, says TN CM to PM

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure NEET is kept out of BPT and BOT admissions, and said the admission modalities should remain within the states' jurisdiction. Prescribing mere appearance in NEET as a qualification was devoid of logic, he contended and said globally, academic eligibility was defined either by passing an examination or by securing a high score in it.

"Mandating only an appearance has no academic rationale and appears designed solely to normalise and expand NEET across society. This would only end up forcing millions in the country to avail coaching, thus profiting NEET coaching centres at the cost of poor families," the Chief Minister said in a letter to the Prime Minister.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test has been made mandatory for admissions to Bachelor of Physiotherapy and Bachelor of Occupational Therapy from this academic year by the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) to standardise entry into allied health courses. Hitherto, admissions were based on the Plus Two marks or college-specific tests in the state.

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In the letter, Stalin claimed that even the NEET score as a qualification for admission to MBBS has been progressively diluted through extremely low cut-offs, amounting to almost zero, thus making the "quality argument" totally irrelevant. "In this context, it is imperative that the admission modalities for Allied and Health Care Courses (AHCs) remain within the jurisdiction of the state government and that NEET is kept out of these admissions," he said and urged that this mandate be reviewed and NCAHP be instructed to drop this step immediately.

"Considering the urgency of this issue, I look forward to your personal intervention," the Chief Minister said in the letter. He claimed states, which are constitutionally in-charge of both health and education sectors, were not consulted on the latest move. "This is totally unacceptable to us," Stalin said.

The number of AHCs seats in Tamil Nadu was over 50,000, and lakhs of students who aspired for admission in the courses were from much poorer socio-economic backgrounds compared to MBBS aspirants. Hence, forcing these poor families to spend on NEET coaching would be a gross injustice, he argued.