The Tamil Nadu government is planning to enact a law to create special reservation for students of government schools in medical colleges, even as it is waging a legal battle in the Supreme Court against the NEET (National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test), Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said.
Making a suo motu statement in the Legislative Assembly on Saturday, the Chief Minister said the reservation would be for students who study from class I to XII in government schools, corporation schools, municipal schools, Kallar reclamation schools and schools run by the Forest Department.
“Entry of government school students into medical colleges has come down drastically after the introduction of the NEET. The government of Amma wants to to stop this trend,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
The Chief Minister said the government would constitute a commission under the chairmanship of a retired High Court judge to collect details and make recommendations to the government. The commission will have secretaries of the Health and Law Departments as members. Besides, two educationists named by the School Education Department will be included in the commission. The Director of Medical Education will be the member-secretary of the commission.
“The commission will study the reason for the poor entry of government school students in medical colleges and asses their social conditions before making recommendations to rectify the trend,” he said. The commission will make its recommendations in one month.
Mr. Palaniswami said though the NEET was introduced in 2016-17, late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had obtained an exemption for a year. “We have been opposing NEET and adopted a resolution in the Assembly and sent it to the Centre. We have also approached the Supreme Court and explained how the examination had severely affected the poor and students from rural areas,” he said.
