by Chennai: Another student– aspiring to be a doctor– died by suicide in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu fearing failure in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). This is the third suicide being reported in connection with the NEET exams in the past 3-4 days. The 17-year-old student, Soundharya T, killed herself three days after appearing for the NEET exam held on September 12. She reportedly told her family that the paper was tough and she could not perform well in the exam. She feared she wouldn’t clear the NEET exam and had been depressed since the exam.
On September 15, her parents had left for work as usual and when her mother returned, she found Soundharya dead in her room, reported The News Minute. Her body has been sent for a post mortem to the Vellore Government Hospital and Medical College.
Further investigation into the matter is underway.
Prior to this, another medical aspirant in the state died by suicide fearing failure in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test. The student was identified as Kanimozhi, daughter of advocate couple, Karunanidhi and Vijayalakshmi. Her relatives reportedly revealed that Kanimozhi, who had secured the top position in her class 12 board exams, was disappointed with her performance in the recently held NEET.
On September 12, hours before appearing for the NEET exam, a 19-year old youth killed himself near Salem. “The boy was found hanging in his house by his mother at about 3.45 am and the family informed us,” a Mettur range police officer told reporters.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday passed the bill seeking exemption from the NEET and making admissions to medical colleges based on the marks scored by the students in the Class 12 examinations (intermediate). Chief Minister MK Stalin had introduced the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Act-2021 and it was passed by voice vote.
The principal opposition party AIADMK, which had walked out of the house earlier, later came back to support the bill. Former Chief Minister and the Leader of Opposition, K. Palaniswami had said that his party will extend its support to the Bill. However, members of the BJP staged a walkout when the bill was put to vote.