Chennai, Jun 18 (IANS): AIADMK expelled leader and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O. Panneerselvam (OPS) said that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) favoured urban students and should be scrapped.

He said the exam favoured those who had studied in the CBSE stream which has led to the students from rural areas losing out to join medical colleges.

He called upon the Centre to scrap this examination. The former Chief Minister charged that this exam was primarily an exam designed for affluent students.

OPS cited interviews of NEET toppers who had told media persons that they had attended coaching classes and that the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus was enough to crack the examination. He said that except for one, all the toppers had attended coaching classes for NEET which was not affordable for the rural students.

The former Chief Minister said that 75 per cent of the student community of Tamil Nadu were from rural backgrounds and studying in the state government syllabus. He said that this was creating a major discrepancy between students from affluent and urban backgrounds and rural students who were poor and marginalized.

The expelled AIADMK leader also called upon the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin to put pressure on the central government to do away with the NEET. He also said that it was the Congress government in 2011 that laid the foundation stone for NEET and added that the DMK was very much part of that government.

OPS said that the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, the late J. Jayalalithaa had vehemently opposed NEET and had said that the students from the rural background would suffer if it was implemented.