TS Venkatesan from Chennai
Tamil Nadu politicians, particularly Dravidian leaders are famous for politicking on the dead ones. With the suicide of Dalit girl, S Anitha, a medical aspirant from Ariyalur, the Dravidian parties and fringe Tamil groups have got some fresh ammunition. The 17-year-old Anitha was in distress after failing to secure a medical seat as National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was made compulsory in Tamil Nadu for medical admissions this year. She was the first victim in the year-long politics of brinkmanship played out in the state against the NEET. The protests, false promises made by politicians, unending court cases, and uncertainties kept thousands of medical aspirants and their families on tenterhooks for months.
There was an utter confusion, chaos, lack of clarity in the wake of the state government’s desperate political maneuvers to get NEET exemption for Tamil Nadu till last minute of counseling. The medical college admissions in the state were done solely based on the plus two examination marks until last year. Though the Central government introduced NEET last year, Tamil Nadu was exempted from it. This year also, the TN government sought an exemption and the Legislative Assembly passed amendments to continue the existing practice in medical college admissions. The Supreme Court on August 22 directed the Tamil Nadu government to complete counseling process for medical admissions in the State on the basis of the NEET merit list by September 4.
Anitha studied in an aided school till class 10. Though she could not crack NEET she, a state board student from Tamil medium, had secured 1,176 marks in the plus two exams this year. Among the toppers in the district, she could have got admitted to a self-financing school with a partial fee waiver. With a medical cutoff of 196.75, she was assured of a seat if admissions would have been made based on the plus two marks. On September 1, as the first phase of the much-delayed medical admission concluded, information came that Anitha had hanged herself at her home in Sendurai village in Ariyalur. Her father, Shanmugam, is a load man at Gandhi vegetable market in Trichy. Losing her mother at an early age, Anitha was brought up by her father and four siblings as the first medical aspirant in her community in the village.
Anitha was offered a seat in Aeronautical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology, the premier institute where former president APJ Abdul Kalam studied. She was also selected for Bachelor of Veterinary Science in Veterinary College at Orathanadu. “But I want to be a doctor,” Anitha said in one of her interaction with media. Anitha said she was hopeful getting favourable verdict from the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had impleaded Anitha as a respondent in the petition filed by advocate Nalini (wife of former Union Finance minister P Chidambaram) who sought direction to the state government to admit students to medical colleges based on NEET marks. The state government had maintained till the last minute but failed to ensure NEET exception this year.
The opposition parties slammed the Tamil Nadu government, holding it responsible for the suicide of Anitha. Calling the Edappadi K Palaniswami government ‘inept’ in the way it handled the NEET issue, political leaders said the government should own up responsibility for her death. They squarely blamed the TN state education board’s ‘lack of standards’ that left thousands of students struggling at the national level exam.
Meanwhile, the TN education department has now taken up a
slew of measures to improve the board’s standards recently and is attempting to bring them on a par with those of national boards like the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The slew of measures to improve the State board’s standards initiated by TN government includes revision of syllabus across classes, forming committees for syllabus and
curriculum framework, conducting teacher training programs, and the introduction of board exams at the Class 11 level starting from the current batch of students.
The revised syllabus is come into place from 2018 to 2021 in phases starting from Classes I, VI and IX in the coming academic year.
Her death kicked off protests from various outfits in various parts of the State. State Government announced a solatium of Rs.7 lakhs and job for a member of her family.
“Politicizing her death would not be alright. How could an economically poor daily wage earner girl study in private school? How she knew the legal remedies were available for her problems. Her well-wishers could have advised her to try next time. They would have got her admitted in Engineering or other professional courses. If Anita’s aim was to serve the society, she could choose IAS, IPS, and others also. It is learned that DMK MLA Sivasankar who took Anitha to Delhi to fight the case in SC, bore all the expenses. If his real intentions were to help her, he would speak to some DMK leaders who run medical colleges to get a berth for her. When PSG, Pacchamuthu’s SRM, Meenakshi, Udaiyar’s Ramachandra, Vijayakant’s brother-in-law, DMK’s Jagatrakshagan medical college, PMK Ramadoss and other medical colleges are selling seats for crores, nobody minced a word.
We could justify if the students were against NEET. Why were these medical colleges went to court? NEET is to benefit all communities on merit basis. Nobody raised a finger against SC which made NEET compulsory. Other states in Bharat even back ward states like Bihar, Jharkhand accepted without any qualms. Why protests only TN.” asked a senior journalist.
He further said: “When the Congress-DMK government exempted minority led institutions from implementing the right to education act No body opposed it. Why?
Their support is for the private educational institutions which are indulging in daylight robbery. We do not want a qualified doctor but want only rich doctors and NEET is the impediment for this. Last year three dalith students were found dead in a well near Villupuram in a mysterious manner. At that time TN Politicians, who are now vehemently opposing NEET, said there was the rampant commercialization of education in the State. It is politics that killed, not NEET and It is also a collective shaming of the political community (irrespective of party affiliations)”, he added.
“If you watch her purported to be her last video before ending her life she was nervous and spoke in English. It seemed somebody tutored her to what to say.
They could have forced to her also to commit suicide after promising monetary help to their family. The poor girl was a victim misguidance. Some played dirty tricks on her for some political gains knowing well that it would turn tables against Centre” pointed out a criminal lawyer.
DMK Working President MK Stalin targeted BJP and the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, faulting both for failing to ensure at least one year exemption for the state from NEET.
On September 2, he paid tributes to Anitha at her native village shortly ahead of the cremation and gave party’s donation of Rs 10 lakh to her family. NEET had affected social justice in Tamil Nadu, Stalin, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly claimed and assured his party will take the fight against NEET forward.
No doubt no words would give solace to her parents but her decision to end life could not be justified at all. We can hope the stakeholders in the education system note this and take suitable remedial measures so that there are no future Anithas.
Leave a Comment