Age just a number: Senior citizens crack NEET, apply for medical seats in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: There's no age limit for learning - some senior citizens in Tamil Nadu seem to have discovered this mantra. Three people aged 68, 67 and 60, including two lawyers, have cleared NEET this year and applied for MBBS admissions in Tamil Nadu. But, their sudden passion for a tough and demanding branch of study like medicine has left TN officials in a fix.

State selection committee officials said there are at least 25 people, above the age of 35 years, competing for UG medical and dental courses. There's no upper age limit to appear for NEET as NMC had removed the bar on age or number of attempts for the qualifying examination.

"This year, there are many graduates and professionals aspiring for a medical or dental seat. This is the highest number of middle-age and older applicants we have seen since 2017," said an official.

Some candidates have obtained enough marks that could secure them a seat under the 69% reservation category and permit them to study medicine at a subsidised cost at a government college or free of cost at a private college.

All three senior citizens applied for admission under a special quota, where 7.5% of seats are reserved for students from government schools to pursue medicine in government or private colleges free of cost.

While the older candidates have the qualifying marks, officials are seeing technical problems - in many cases, documents are not matching the requirements mentioned in the prospectus, an official said.

The core debate among officials is whether this special quota should extend to all graduates, regardless of age.