Twenty-year old medical aspirant in Tamil Nadu allegedly dies by suicide after failing NEET

Depressed over securing low marks in the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET), a 20-year old medical aspirant allegedly died by suicide in Salem district, police said. This news comes only days after another 20-year-old student from Tamil Nadu’s Pollachi, Coimbatore, died by suicide following fear of failing the exam. Subhashchandra Bose, a resident of Vadagumarai in that district, had appeared for NEET, the results of which were announced four days back, and had scored low marks in it. Dejected over the inability to clear the entrance exam, he allegedly consumed pesticides on 2 November. He had completed Class 12 in 2019, and had been trying to clear the exam for the past two years. The boy’s parents noticed him struggling in bed later in the night and took him to the government hospital in Athur. As his condition was said to be serious, he was referred to a private hospital in Salem for further treatment, they said. However, Bose succumbed on Saturday around 3.30 am. His body was taken to the government hospital in Salem for postmortem, where a large number of relatives had gathered. The Tamil Nadu Assembly in September passed the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill  seeking to permanently exempt Tamil Nadu students from appearing for the NEET following a string of suicides in the state. A high-level committee led by Justice A K Rajan , set up by the DMK government in June, reported to the government that NEET had undermined the diverse societal representation in MBBS and higher medical education, favouring the affluent groups, while thwarting the dream of pursuing medical education by the underprivileged sections. Mostly affected were the students of government schools, those having parental income less than 2.5 lakh per annum and that of Most Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Justice Rajan Committee received views from 86,342 people both offline and online and submitted its report on 14 July. Following the recommendations, the state government set up another committee of secretaries led by chief secretary V Irai Anbu on 15 July. The committee of secretaries recommended the same route to nullify NEET. In 2020, 14 suicides were officially reported in connection with the NEET, up from seven in 2019, according to psychiatry professors who called it a public health issue. In India, estimates suggest that one student dies by suicide almost every hour. With inputs from agencies A collection of suicide prevention helpline numbers are available here. Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022-27546669