Free NEET coaching will continue for govt school students: Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi

CHENNAI: The State will continue providing free NEET coaching for government school students until the exam is abolished, the Minister for School Education, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, assured the House on Thursday.

Replying to a series of questions raised by former School Education Minister and AIADMK MLA KA Sengottaiyan, Anbil said 25,000 students are expected to apply for the exam every year, and this year the total is 12,361. He noted that despite the State's anti-NEET stance, the students will not be confused, and the free coaching will continue until the exam is scrapped through the legal battle. Claiming that the state government has full hopes that the NEET would be scrapped through legal battle, he said in this connection, more than 85 lakh signatures were received to support the removal of the NEET exam for the State.

Stating that the students should not be disappointed if NEET was not cancelled immediately, Anbil said, "We are training the students continuously through government school teachers."

He also claimed that the NEET question bank, which was created by the experts, could fetch answers for more than 400 questions that would appear in the medical entrance test.

When Sengottaiyan raised concerns about the vacancies of teachers existing in several government schools, the minister said as many as 3,087 PG teachers were appointed recently.

"This year, 1,915 teachers will be appointed," he said, adding, "After 11 years, a total of 2,768 secondary teachers were selected through exam, and they were called for certificate verification."

To another question raised by the opposition party, Poyyamozhi said that from March 1, 2025, till Wednesday (April 23), a total of 1,56,290 new admissions were recorded in the government elementary schools.