Medical admission based on NEET, quota for Tamil Nadu students: Minister

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar on Saturday announced in the Assembly that 85 per cent of medical seats under the state quota would be earmarked for students who had pursued higher secondary education under the state board and the admission would be based on NEET marks.

He said a government order was issued on June 22 apportioning 85 per cent to state board students and the rest 15 per cent to CBSE (and similar boards such as ICSE).

This apportionment was in respect of only the state quota after excluding the all India quota of 15 per cent.

The move was to protect the interests of 4.2 lakh Tamil Nadu students who constitute over 90 per cent of the total number of Class XII students, he said, adding only 4,685 students were from the CBSE stream.

The medical counselling has been scheduled for July 17 after the conclusion of all India counselling, he said.

Responding to DMK Deputy Leader Duraimurugan, Thangam Thenarasu and Ponmudi (both DMK), the minister said the government had carefully considered the whole issue arising out of the pending assent to two Tamil Nadu Bills.

The pending bills would (if approved by the Centre) allow the state to continue medical admissions based on Class XII marks, he said.

The DMK members, referring to the National Eligibility cum Entrance (NEET) results, said the interests of Tamil Nadu students who pursued their education under the state board should be protected.

They also wanted the provision for 69 per cent reservation to be protected.

The NEET results for undergraduate medical and dental courses were released on Friday.

The state government has opposed NEET but is yet to receive the presidential assent for the two Bills passed by it in the assembly seeking exemption from common entrance test.