An all-party meeting convened in Chennai on Monday under the leadership of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Working President MK Stalin asked the Centre to shift education from the concurrent to the state list, The Hindu reported. The participants also urged the Centre to exempt Tamil Nadu from medical admissions based on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test.

They decided to hold a public meeting in Tiruchirappalli on September 8 to press for these demands. The leaders also blamed the government for the death of 17-year-old medical aspirant S Anitha, who committed suicide in Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district on September 1.

The meeting was attended by leaders of the Congress party, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi. However, the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party skipped the meeting.

“It is the duty of a state government to provide quality education,” a resolution passed at the meeting said. “The Centre should realise that only the state government alone could enact laws to ensure quality education and should shift education from the concurrent list to the state list.”

Attendees claimed that the Centre had indulged in a false campaign that the school education system in Tamil Nadu was inferior. They also alleged that the government had “undermined social justice” by introducing the Neet for admission into medical colleges.