BJP trying to stifle anti-NEET protests: MP Trichy Siva

Trichy: Member of Parliament Trichy Siva on Saturday said that reforms in education rather than examination in the form of the national eligibility-cum-entrance test (NEET) were the need of the hour. He said BJP of trying to prevent anti-NEET protests while the AIADMK had lost the moral right to rule the state by failing to get exemption for students from the national entrance test.
“We have been asking for educational reforms but NEET is only an examination reform which only those who can afford coaching can pass,” he said at a press meet organised for the amuni meeting of his alma mater Periyar EVR College in Trichy.According to him, there were schools in the state where students studied for over 14 hours a day to secure the highest marks aiming at medical seats. “But at the end of the day we ask them to appear for an exam about which they have no clue,”he said.
On BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan’s comment that she along with her family would pass if they appeared in NEET, Siva said this was not the time to throw challenges but understand the plight of those who have been affected. “Anitha getting top marks coming from a family that has no track record of toppers is unimaginable. We cannot ignore them by introducing an entrance test,” he said.
The AIADMK failed to get approval for two state ordinances on NEET from the Union government and the President. “Above all, they were busy integrating the factions in AIADMK leaving the students in the lurch after giving hope,” he said. Siva urged the alumni of EVR Periyar College to come together as part of the college alumni day on the birth anniversary of rationalist EVR Periyar on September 17.