New Delhi: Weeks after nationwide protests against NEET paper leaks and the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday (August 11) unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Modi government to drop the requirement for the test. The lone BJP MLA M. Bhojarajan walked out before voting.Among other factors, the state has referred to the high cost incurred by students and their families to access coaching classes to qualify for NEET.The resolution cited the NEET Undergraduate paper leak and other examination failures as well as the cancellation of the paper and the student protests that followed. It said the situation had caused “untold mental agony” to students.A similar resolution was passed in 2021, with the Tamil Nadu assembly strongly opposing the centralisation of education and entrance exams. The state assembly had also passed the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill in 2021, but it did not receive presidential assent. Since education is on the Concurrent List of the constitution, a state law can override a Union legislation only with presidential approval.Moving the latest resolution on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu health, medical education and family welfare minister K.G. Anuraj urged the Union government to amend the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 and other relevant laws so that the states could fill seats in medical colleges based on Class XII marks – not the central exam.The resolution reminds the Modi government of Tamil Nadu’s opposition to NEET as contrary to social justice and equality as well as federalism. It said the examination had hurt the ability of students to compete as equals, especially if their medium of instruction was Tamil.“A single day’s test, rather than twelve years of school education, now determines the course of a student’s higher education,” the resolution said, the Hindu reports.