Chennai, Aug 13: A day after his 19-year-old son died by suicide after failing to clear the NEET medical entrance exam, the boy's father was found dead at his home in Tamil Nadu's Chennai, the police said.
Jagadeeswaran, who had graduated from Class XII in 2022 with 427 marks, was unable to clear the entrance in two attempts. On Saturday, he did not respond to calls from his father and was found dead at home. His father, Selvasekar, was found dead the next morning. Unable to cope with the grief of his son's death, Selvasekar hanged himself at his home, the police said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin condoled the deaths and appealed to students "to not entertain suicidal thoughts but to have self-confidence and to live life".
In 2021, the Tamil Nadu assembly passed a bill seeking exemption from NEET, arguing that it favors affluent students who can afford private coaching and puts students from poor families and rural areas at a disadvantage, even if they score high marks in their Class XII exams.
For nearly a decade prior to this, the state had abolished entrance tests for medical admissions and admitted students to MBBS programs based on their Class XII marks.
Governor RN Ravi, who had returned the bill after a long delay, forwarded it to President Droupadi Murmu after the assembly passed it again.
Today, Chief Minister Stalin said, "The NEET wall will crumble in a few months when the political change we aspire to bring about happens."
"The NEET system favours only those who can afford to pay lakhs to prepare for two or three years. Those who secure fewer marks in their Class XII exams are also able to secure medical admission by paying hefty sums of money with NEET qualification. They have created a situation where medical education is only for the affluent.
"Poor students from government schools in the state are now able to pursue medicine only because of the 7.5% reservation that the state has made," he added.
A few days ago, Governor Ravi, who had felicitated NEET-qualified candidates, faced an uncomfortable question from a parent of a successful candidate who wanted NEET exemption. The parent said that he had spent several lakhs on his daughter's coaching and that not all parents could afford it. The Governor retorted, saying the bill is with the President now and he would never sign it.
State Health Minister Ma Subramanian slammed the Governor for "misleading" the state with such statements when he has "no role in this except merely forwarding" it to the President.
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