The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the sole political party in the I.N.D.I.Alliance advocating against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), has faced a setback in its narrative as Tamil Nadu students excelled in the NEET UG 2024 examination. Despite the DMK’s persistent opposition and promises to secure an exemption for Tamil Nadu from NEET, the state’s students have demonstrated remarkable success in the national exam.
In the recent NEET UG 2024 results announced on June 4, coinciding with the Lok Sabha poll results, a record number of 67 students nationwide achieved the All India Rank 1. Among these, eight students hailed from Tamil Nadu, making it the second-highest state after Rajasthan in terms of top rankers. The distinguished students from Tamil Nadu who achieved a perfect 99.99 percentile include Syed Aarifin Yusuf M, Shailaja S, Aditya Kumar Panda, Sriram P, Rajaneesh P, Jayathi Poorvaja M, Rohith R, and Sabareesan S. Syed Aarifin Yusuf M led in the male category, while Shailaja S topped the female category.
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This impressive performance contradicts the DMK’s stance on NEET. The party has been vocally against the exam, arguing that it disadvantages students from the state. The Tamil Nadu government, led by DMK, passed a resolution in the state assembly seeking NEET exemption. However, the resolution did not receive the Governor’s assent and was sent back for reconsideration. The state government re-adopted the resolution without addressing the Governor’s concerns, and it is currently pending approval from the President.
A total of 1,52,920 students from Tamil Nadu appeared for NEET 2024, with 89,426 clearing the exam, resulting in a pass percentage of 58.47 per cent. This is an increase from last year’s pass rate of 54.45 per cent. Notably, 36,333 students opted to take the exam in Tamil, marking an increase of nearly 6,000 from the previous year.
On a national scale, 23.33 lakh students participated in NEET 2024, and 13.16 lakh successfully passed. The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the exam at 4,750 centers across 571 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. The test was administered in 13 languages, including Tamil.
— National Testing Agency (@NTA_Exams) June 4, 2024
In response to concerns raised about the loss of time during the examination on May 5th, the NTA announced that affected candidates were given grace marks. This decision followed representations made to the NTA and was supported by a normalization formula adopted by the Supreme Court in a 2018 judgment. The NTA’s tweet on the matter clarified that candidates’ scores might reflect these adjustments, potentially being 718 or 719 due to the compensatory grace marks.
While this measure addressed some candidates’ grievances, it also drew criticism on social media. Some questioned the rationale behind granting grace marks, expressing their discontent on the platform X.
Despite these controversies, the outstanding performance of Tamil Nadu students in NEET 2024 stands as a testament to their academic capabilities and challenges the DMK’s anti-NEET stance.
