NHRC issues notice to TN Govt, CBSE over NEET issue

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo-motu cognizance of a media report alleging hardships to the students, who had to travel outside their state to write their National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test organized by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The NHRC issued notices to the CBSE's chairperson and Tamil Nadu's chief secretary asking them to explain - "why the students had to travel across the state to appear in the examination."

"The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report alleging that a lot of hardships were faced by young students, who had to travel across the state to write their NEET, organised by the Central Board of Secondary Education," the Commission said in the statement.

"In one such incident, a 46-year-old man from Tamil Nadu, who had to travel a long distance of 500 kilometres with his son to appear in the NEET at a centre in Kerala, died due to cardiac arrest on Sunday," the NHRC added.

According to the media report, a statement issued by the CBSE said that "at least 3,685 medical aspirants from Tamil Nadu had to travel out of state to take the exam".

The commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights.

"The students pass through tremendous pressure due to examination. It is the duty of the state to ensure that they should not be subjected to any kind of discomfort, while they are appearing for the entrance examinations," the commission stated.

"It is also mentioned that in the news report, the Tamil Nadu state government had announced on May 5 that every student from Tamil Nadu, who travelled to other states to appear for the NEET, will be given train fare in addition to the monetary assistance of Rs 1,000 per candidate," the statement noted.

Reportedly, over 13 lakh candidates appeared for the national medical entrance exam NEET on Monday at 2,225 centres across the country.