Even as the Supreme Court on Tuesday instructed the Medical Council of India (MCI) to respond to the pleas of few State Governments regarding the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET), the members of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association (TNGDA) have announced that would protest, depending on the apex court’s judgement.

The state governments of Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir had asked the apex court to allow them to conduct their state-level tests alongside the NEET, to which the court had asked the MCI to respond, and had adjourned the case to Thursday.

Meeting mediapersons here on Tuesday at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), N. Ravishankar, the president of TNGDA, said that they were opposing the NEET exams as it was different from the education system followed in Tamil Nadu.

“This will affect the students from rural areas as they are following Samacheer Kalvi syllabus, which is different to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), based on which the NEET syllabus is framed,” he alleged.

But, he also clarified that the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus was not inferior to the CBSE, adding that the students of Tamil Nadu who were undergoing mark-based education will not be able to compete with the CBSE students.

T. Jayasingh, secretary of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), added that education should not only test the marks of the students but also the mental, physical and social strength of the students, which are essential to excel as a profession in any field.