NEET Aspiraants Leave For Centres 8n Kerala - The Hindu Tiruchi 5.5.2018

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TAMIL NADU The Hindu Tiruchi 5.5.2018
NEET aspirants leave for centres in Kerala

TIRUCHI, MAY 05, 2018 00:00 IST
UPDATED: MAY 05, 2018 05:06 IST
R. Krishnamoorthy

Many question rationale behind assigning centres outside TN
Students from Tiruchi appearing for NEET on Sunday at centres in Kerala began their journey by the Ernakulam Express train and buses from here on Friday.
Some also faced last minute travel hitches. One such candidate, Nitish, son of an auto driver Senthil (48), was left stranded as he had not booked tickets. A pensive Senthil said he dropped the idea of taking his son by train as there would be no space even to stand in the unreserved compartments. “I am thinking of taking my son by bus to Coimbatore or Erode and from there to Kerala by train or bus on Saturday, on Saturday, to cut down expenses,” he said.
There were several students and parents in a similar predicament. But, the number of Tiruchi students assigned centres out of Tamil Nadu could not be ascertained either by the Education Department or the coaching institutions.

Chief Educational Officer Ramakrishnan said 234 students of government and government-aided schools availed themselves of the benefit of free NEET training at various centres across the district. But, the department had no idea as to how many students from private schools had applied online for the exam. Headmasters of government schools have been issued instructions to provide assistance to parents of those students who have been assigned exam centres outside Tamil Nadu, as directed by the Government, the CEO said.

According to a manager of a coaching centre here, students of private schools had applied through their respective institutions, and there would be more than 8,000 medical aspirants from the district.

V. Manivasagan, State president of Tamil Nadu Higher Secondary Post Graduate Teachers' Association charged the CBSE with causing inconvenience to the students of Tamil Nadu with an "ulterior motive" of forcing the parents who had till last year sought abolition of NEET.

M.A. Aleem, president, Tamil Nadu-Pondicherry Association of Neurologists, questioned the rationale behind assigning centres outside Tamil Nadu when there were 25 MCI-approved medical colleges in the State that were ideal for functioning as exam centres.