The Tamil Nadu government has urged the Union Centre to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and revert medical admissions to Class 12 marks.
This request comes amid a crisis of confidence in India's medical entrance system. The move follows a widespread uproar over a paper-leak scandal that compromised the integrity of the 2026 examination process.
The request was made on Wednesday during the state Assembly budget session [4]. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and Finance Minister N Marie Wilson presented the government's first budget while calling for the abolition of the standardized test.
The demand is rooted in the failure of the NEET-UG 2026 exam. The test was held on May 3 [1] and was taken by over 20 lakh students [2]. However, the exam was cancelled on May 12 [3] after reports of a paper leak surfaced.
State officials said that the cancellation and the leak raised significant concerns about fairness and transparency in medical admissions. By reverting to Class 12 marks, the government aims to remove the instability caused by the centralized testing system.
The budget session also served as a platform for the administration to highlight its governance goals. Finance Minister N Marie Wilson said the government has taken steps to halt kickbacks in tenders as part of its broader reform agenda [4].
The Tamil Nadu government's position aligns with long-standing regional opposition to NEET, which critics argue disadvantages students who cannot afford private coaching, a systemic issue exacerbated by the recent security breach.
“The Tamil Nadu government has urged the Union Centre to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.”
The push to abolish NEET represents a significant clash between state-level educational autonomy and the Union Centre's drive for a standardized national meritocracy. By citing the 2026 paper-leak scandal, the Tamil Nadu government is leveraging a concrete administrative failure to argue that the current system is neither secure nor equitable, potentially forcing a national conversation on the validity of high-stakes entrance exams in India.
