In a shocking move, an 18-year-old student who wanted to become a doctor and was allegedly preparing for the upcoming NEET-UG examination, committed suicide in Tamil Nadu. P. Dhanush was found hanging from the ceiling of his house on Wednesday. He was rushed to KMC Hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Dhanush has already passed his Class 12 examinations. He, however, had failed NEET in his earlier attempts. He had been preparing for the NEET examination. Fear of failure, apparently, forced him into taking the drastic step.
The young boy would have been 19 in August.
Dhanush was a resident of Choolaimedu. His parents, daily wage earners, found him hanging from the ceiling of their house when they returned back.
The incident brings back eerie memories of similar instances from the state and all over the country and is sure to re-ignite the fight Tamil Nadu has been fighting for banning of the exam. The cabinet recently passed a bill banning NEET in the state. The bill, however, has not been signed by the Governor yet. Tamil Nadu government had previously set up a committee where it found that students who were admitted based on the NEET results had performed poorly than those who had enrolled based on Class 12 marks.
“In the first year of the course, there is no difference between those who got admitted based plus two marks and those based on NEET. However, from the second year, students who got admitted based on NEET marks perform poorer than those who entered before 2017 based on their plus two marks,” Dr Jawahar Nesan, a member of Justice AK Rajan committee said. The committee was formed by the government of Tamil Nadu to understand the socio-economic impact of NEET.
NEET is the only entrance examination and mandatory for admission to a medical/ dental college. Each year, lakhs of candidates who aspire to become doctors appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET examination. In 2021, over 16 lakh had appeared for the exam. This year, the number has increased to 18 lakhs.
