Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and the Tamil Nadu government urged the Indian Centre to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on Wednesday.
The demand comes as the state seeks to replace the centralized testing system with medical college admissions based on Class 12 marks. This move follows a significant scandal involving the NEET-UG 2026 exam, which disrupted the academic timeline for thousands of students.
Statements were made in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in Chennai during the presentation of the state budget. The government's push for policy change follows a widespread uproar over an alleged leak of the NEET-UG 2026 paper [1, 2].
The examination in question was held on May 3 [1]. More than 20 lakh students took the NEET-UG 2026 exam [1]. However, the process was upended when the exam was cancelled on May 12 [1].
The TVK government said the current system is flawed and that reverting to secondary school marks would provide a more stable and fair pathway for medical aspirants. The call for the removal of NEET is a recurring point of contention between the state administration and the central government, a conflict intensified by the recent administrative failures of the 2026 testing cycle.
By linking the demand to the budget presentation, the administration has signaled that educational reform and the removal of the centralized test are primary legislative priorities for the current term. The government said the Class 12 marks system ensures a more consistent evaluation of student merit without the risk of large-scale leaks or sudden cancellations.
“Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and the Tamil Nadu government urged the Indian Centre to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).”
The push to scrap NEET reflects a deeper struggle between state autonomy and federal standardization in India's education system. By advocating for Class 12 marks, Tamil Nadu is attempting to shift the power of medical admissions back to state-level academic performance, reducing the reliance on a single high-stakes exam that has proven vulnerable to security breaches.
