NEET Fear : One more student commits suicide in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: A day ahead of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), a medical college aspirant in Madurai Jyothi Sridurga committed suicide.

Daughter of policeman Murugasundaram, Sri durga hanged herself at her residence on Saturday. A purported suicide note left behind by her said she was 'apprehensive' though others had high 'hopes' on her, the police said.

As to the reason for her suicide Sridurga has said she had prepared well for the exam but was scared of the result.

She requested not to blame anyone and conveyed her apologies to her parents for her decision.

This is the second such instance this week in Tamil Nadu. On Wednesday, Vignesh an aspiring medical student had committed suicide over NEET fears.

The two incidents has drawn sharp responses from Tamil Nadu political parties opposed to NEET. Political party leaders in Tamil Nadu, across ideologies expressed pain at the girl's suicide fearing NEET. They expressed sorrow and demanded the central government to scrap NEET at least in the state.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam of the ruling AIADMK expressed shock over the incident.

Taking to Twitter, Palaniswami expressed grief over the "sad" incident and said students have many avenues to taste success and them resorting to such extreme steps was distressing.

"It is distressing to see students, the hope for the future, taking such steps," he said.

Condoling the girl's death, he expressed his sympathies with the family.

In a tweet, Panneerselvam expressed grief over such incidents concerning the students, who are the "pillars of the future."

"Students should learn to face any situation with guts and parents should aid them in this," the deputy CM, also the AIADMK Coordinator, said.

Stalin, Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, expressed shock over the suicide, but said killing oneself was not the solution.

In a tweet, he said that 'NEET has a destabilisation effect on the students as can be seen from the death of Anitha (first student who committed suicide due to NEET) to Sridurga,.

He added that he was shocked to know Sridurga committed suicide due to fear of NEET and added that the medical college entrance test is not at all an exam and suicide is not the solution

PMK MP Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, whose party is an NDA constituent, condoled the student's death and expressed his sympathies with her family.

"#SayNoToNEET #BanNEET," the PMK Youth Wing leader tweeted. His father and party founder Dr S Ramadoss also called for scrapping the exam and also urged the central government to cancel the exam in Tamil Nadu.

MDMK founder and Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko slammed the BJP-led Centre, saying suicides of students in the state was happening due to the "imposition" of NEET on them.

Recalling various instances of suicides by students in Tamil Nadu, including that of Anitha, which had sparked an outrage in the state, Vaiko alleged that despite their high class XII scores, students from the poorer sections were 'filtered' in NEET and their medical dreams 'destroyed.' "Cancellation of NEET alone can prevent such deaths," he said in a statement.

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader and independent legislator, T T V Dhinakaran and Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan also expressed anguish over Durga's death.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a batch of pleas seeking deferment or cancellation of NEET scheduled for Sunday.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan had said that authorities will take all necessary steps for conducting the NEET-undergraduate exam amid the COVID-19 pandemic for admission in medical courses

According to Minister for School Education K.A.Sengottaiyan, Tamil Nadu state government is against NEET.

(With inputs from various sources)