Actor and leader of Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), Vijay, speaks at the special meet-and-greet he hosted on Wednesday, July 3, in Chennai to honour students who topped in the recently held 10th and 12th-grade examinations
| Photo Credit: @TheRoute/X
Days after the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution urging the Union government to abolish the controversial medical entrance examinations, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), actor and the leader of Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), Vijay, criticised the NEET examinations and urged the departments of education and sanitation to be moved back to the State list from the Concurrent list.
Vijay said this on Wednesday while speaking at the second leg of TVK’s special meet-and-greet to honour students who topped in the recently-held 10th and 12th-grade examinations. The event was held at the Ramachandra Convention Center in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai.
Actor and leader of Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), Vijay, speaks at the special meet-and-greet he hosted on Wednesday, July 3, in Chennai to honour students who topped in the recently held 10th and 12th-grade examinations
| Photo Credit:
@TheRoute/X
Mentioning how the NEET examination affects students from impoverished, economically backward and oppressed classes, Vijay said that he sees three issues in the implementation of NEET. “Firstly, it’s against the rights of a state government. Before 1975, education was under the State list, and then the Union government moved it to the Concurrent list — I believe this is where the issue started.”
Vijay then stated that the educational policy of ‘one nation, one lesson plan, one examination’ was against the primary objective of education, “because the lesson plans should be remodelled according to the states.”
“I am not just asking this to regain the rights of the state government, but to ensure that the educational system encourages the students to look at things from different perspectives. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness,” said Vijay, while questioning the fairness in testing a student trained in the State board syllabus on the NCERT syllabus. “Imagine the plight of a student who hails from the village and aspires to become a doctor.”
Vijay cited the cancellation of the “disorderly planned” NEET examinations has caused a general distrust among the public. “What we can concur from such news is that we no longer need NEET examinations.” Ultimately, as a solution to these issues, Vijay demanded that the NEET examinations be abolished and that he welcomes the resolution that the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed. “I request the Union government to respect Tamil Nadu’s feelings and solve this issue swiftly.”
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Urging for education to be brought back to the State list, Vijay said that if there are complications in doing so, an amendment to the Constitution should be passed as an interim solution to create a special concurrent list for education and sanitation. “The issue with the Concurrent list is that even though the State governments have authority over the departments listed there, these departments are still being controlled by the Union government. So my request is to give full freedom to the State governments in managing these departments.”
“Maybe if need be, the Union government can conduct NEET only for those institutions like PGI and AIIMS that are in its control. See, these are just my suggestions. I am well aware that there won’t be swift progress in this issue, and even if there is a change, there are many forces that will ensure it doesn’t happen,” said Vijay as a final note before urging students to look at education as a celebration. “Do not take any stress. The world is big and there is no shortage of opportunities for us.”
It is to be noted that on Friday, June 28, with widespread irregularities in NEET giving the spotlight to Tamil Nadu’s sustained opposition to the exam, the State Legislative Assembly passed a resolution urging the Union government to “immediately approve of T.N.’s NEET exemption bill” and “make necessary amendments to the National Medical Commission Act” in order to abolish NEET at the national level.
