“I am sorry. I am tired!” These were the final words of Jothi Shri Durga from Madurai, who was preparing for her second attempt in NEET. The 19-year-old medical aspirant was supposed to appear for NEET in Madurai, scheduled for Sunday. A day before the exam, Jothi was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her home in Madurai.
Hours after the death of Jothi, yet another NEET aspirant, M. Adhithya, from Dharmapuri, killed himself. Adhithya, son of a scrap merchant, is the fourth medical aspirant from Tamil Nadu to die by suicide, fearing NEET. Meanwhile, another student, from Namakkal reportedly died by suicide on Saturday.
“To everyone. It is not your fault. Don’t blame yourself and anyone,” said Jothi’s suicide note kept inside one of her books. The daughter of a sub-inspector of police in Madurai, Jothi Durga’s seven-page suicide note and an audio recording was shared widely on social media, saying how the competitive exam had demotivated her.
Jothi’s death sent shock waves across Tamil Nadu, which has already been raising concerns over NEET. In the last one month, four students have died fearing NEET. Subhasree from Coimbatore and Vignesh from Ariyalur killed themselves in the past two weeks over fear for the test.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical colleges has turned into a nightmare for most of the students from Tamil Nadu. It began in 2017, when the ruling BJP government made NEET compulsory. Four years ago, when Tamil Nadu had expected that the ruling AIADMK government would fight legally and get exemption from NEET, it had claimed the life of Anitha – the first student to say that NEET was not student-friendly through her suicide. She had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 in her 12th exams. Though the state government approached the Supreme Court, it could not obtain a ban on NEET. The two legislations passed by the state assembly to ban NEET has been rejected by the Centre. After Anitha’s death, the voice against NEET in Tamil Nadu has always been louder.
Incidentally, in Tamil Nadu, the students feel that a competitive exam like NEET doesn’t create a level playing field between the students passing out from schools in the rural areas and urban areas. Political leaders, including Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami and opposition leader M.K. Stalin, have advised the students to stay stronger and not to resort to any extreme steps.
NEET will be conducted in 238 centres, and 1,17,990 candidates will be appearing for it on Sunday.
