By: Sakshi Awasthi on May 08, 2018
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (NEET) was conducted on May 6, 2018 at various centres across the country. Yesterday activists of the CPM's student wing protested in front of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) office in Chennai. The activists demanded that the NEET should not be considered mandatory in the state of Tamil Nadu for the admissions in Medical Colleges. The protest was initiated due to the anger that aroused in the state on the death of three parents who were accompanying their children to the NEET centres outside the state of Tamil Nadu.

Kasturi, a NEET aspirant from Tamil Nadu was allotted an examination centre outside the state and he had to travel 500 kilometers away from his hometown to Kerala's Ernakulam. Kasturi's father Krishnaswamy died of heart attack while his son was appearing for the examination.
The family of the deceased blamed that he was stressed due to the NEET examination. Bharathi Mahadevi, mother of Kasturi claims, “He was stressed about NEET and the need to travel to Kerala. It's stress that has led to the heart attack.”
Almost 3500 NEET aspirants from the state of Tamil Nadu had to travel to Kerala to appear for the NEET 2018 examination. Earlier a petition was filed in the Madras High Court by S Kalimuthu Mylavan seeking the direction of the High Court to the Board regarding re-allotment of examination centres for the candidates of Tamil Nadu who were assigned centres outside the state.
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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also issued a notice to the government of Tamil Nadu and the CBSE seeking detailed reports on the issue and explanation on why students had to travel outside the state to write the examination. The NHRC also solicited the measures being taken to avoid such incidents in future.
On April 27, a direction was issued by the Madras High Court, directing the CBSE for reallocation of examination centres for those candidates who have been allotted examination centres outside the state. However, the decision was stayed by the Supreme Court.
Also Read | NEET 2018: A Detailed Analysis