NEET 2018: Tamil language not an option for candidates allotted centre out of state

New Delhi, May 5: While hundreds of Tamil Nadu candidates, who have reportedly been given test centres out of the state, face travelling hassles for appearing in May 6 NEET, the discrepancy in test centre allocation may also deprive them of their opted regional language for the exam paper.

No option for Tamil Language Paper

According to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test rules, the NEET paper in a particular regional language is available to only those candidates who appear at exam centres of a selected state or a set of selected regions only. For example, paper in Tamil language will be available to candidates appearing in Tamil Nadu only. Tamil is one of the 11 languages included in the list of optional languages for NEET. Only English, Hindi and Urdu are common across all exam centres in all states.

According to media reports, many candidates have been allocated test centres in Jaipur which is about 3000 km away from Tamil Nadu. Many media reports also suggested the number of affected candidates being much higher than what officials have quoted. Earlier, the NEET officials from CBSE had said that around 1500 candidates were allotted centres out of state.

Travelling hassles for candidates

The out of state centres have forced candidates and their guardians to travel to other states for the medical entrance exam. Since NEET is now the sole gateway to all MBBS and BDS programmes, except for those in AIIMS and JIPMER, candidates will have no option but to appear for the test anyhow.

Many candidates have been allotted test centres in neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka. A few hundred candidates have also been allotted centres in the state of Rajasthan. As per reports, Subhash Gopinath, a NEET aspirant from Tamil Nadu, had to cover 3100 kms to reach Udaipur which was the exam centre allotted to him.

Like Gopinath, there are more students who had prepared for NEET in their home state have been left in shock but due to the unfortunate turn of events they had to travel miles away, to different states to appear for NEET 2018.

HRD clarification on TN test takers' centre allocation issue

In a clarification made by the Union Human Resources Development Ministry on allocating exam centres to Tamil Nadu test takers, the Government says that a significant rise in the number of test takers from the state resulted in the allocation of the centres outside the state.

"Tamil Nadu has registered a 31 per cent increase in the number of NEET 2018 aspirants than last year. The CBSE even after increasing the number of exam centres to 170, they fell short for few candidates," a Union Ministry statement reads.

The statement also adds that this is a case not only in Tamil Nadu but other states too.

The Court Battle

Earlier, the CBSE was given a go-ahead by Supreme Court after it contested Madras High Court order directing it to re-allot the test centres to the affected candidates. Last week, the Madras High Court had ordered the conducting body of NEET, which is Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), to set up additional NEET exam centres within Tamil Nadu in order to help the students.

The CBSE had subsequently moved the Supreme Court challenging the HC order. While agreeing with CBSE’s argument that implementing the High Court order will cause immense hassles, the Supreme Court simply asked CBSE to ensure that minimum inconvenience is caused to students in future.

The SC stay order had further left students and parents in shock even as many political parties of Tamil Nadu took the issue with the state government. Celebrities from the state also took to social media platforms to criticise the CBSE and Central Government for injustice meted out to the TN students.