Tamil Nadu: Cowherd's son cracks NEET, seeks financial help to study MBBS course

A cowherd's son in Tamil Nadu aced this year's National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). He topped the list of students from government schools in the country who took the coveted exam for admission to undergraduate medical courses.

However there is a slight catch, Jeevithkumar, the son of a cowherd and a Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) worker from Theni district of Tamil Nadu, said that he might not be able to pursue the medical education as his family cannot pay the fees for even government colleges.

"It wasn't my aim to become a doctor, but I tried it because the exam was very hard to crack. Now I would like to pursue MBBS course, but my family wouldn't be able to pay the fees for even government colleges, let alone a private one. I want to request people to help me pursue my studies," he said.

Jeevithkumar cracked the exam on his second attempt. He scored 664 marks out of total 720.

A student of the Government Model Higher Secondary School at Silvarpatti, Periyakulam, he thanked is teachers at his school for their guidance and help in enrolling at a coaching institute for NEET preparation.

"Last year, I wrote the exam only to realise how tough it was. I planned to write it again and my teachers helped me in joining a NEET coaching and this time I was able to score 664 marks which made me the national topper among government school students across the country," he added.

Jeevithkumar's mother, Parameshwari, who is an MGNREGA worker, expressed happiness at her son's success and thanked his teachers for their help and guidance.

The NEET exam results were declared on Friday.

Two candidates attained full marks in the medical entrance exam NEET, according to National Testing Agency (NTA) officials. Odisha's Soyeb Aftab and Delhi's Akanksha Singh have scored 720 out of 720 marks but Aftab has been ranked first and Singh second as per the NTA's tie-breaking policy, the officials said.

AIR 1 rank holder, Soyeb Aftab is a student of ALLEN Career Institute Kota for the last three years. Soyeb became the first student in the country to score 720 out of 720 in the exam. Akanksha is a student of Aakash Institute Kota.

A total of 7,71,500 candidates have qualified the exam for which over 13.66 lakh candidates had appeared. The highest number of qualifying candidates are from Tripura (88,889) followed by Maharashtra (79,974). 

(With ANI inputs)