Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday that the Centre was examining if the Tamil question paper of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was different from the English paper.
AIADMK MPs trooped into the well of the House to register their protest over the issue of different question papers being given to students attempting the common medical entrance examination in regional languages.
Trinamool MPs from West Bengal raised the issue of the Bengali paper.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Derek O’Brien from the Trinamool said that till 2013, the English question paper used to be translated into regional languages.
But this year, those attempting NEET in Bengali or Tamil got question papers that were entirely different, he said adding that 40,000 of the 56,000 students who wrote the exam in either of the languages had “disastrous” results.
‘A federal issue’
“NEET is not a West Bengal issue. It is a federal issue,” he said.
He was joined by AIADMK members who demanded scrapping the applicability of NEET to Tamil Nadu. A. Navaneethakrishnan, MP, said a uniform NEET syllabus should be introduced. Mr. Nadda said the issue was under examination of the government.