Another bonanza for govt. school students, from Stalin’s government

Continuing its social justice campaign the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in Tamil Nadu (TN) has announced that the state will bear the cost of the college fees and hostel expenses of students joining professional courses under the 7.5 per cent reservation in the state. This was announced yesterday by Chief Minister M K Stalin.

The TN government announced three weeks ago that 7.5 per cent seats in professional courses would be reserved for students coming from government schools. The scheme was implemented for medical colleges from the last academic year and is being introduced in engineering, agriculture, veterinary and fisheries courses from the current academic year.

The decision to have special reservation for government school students is based on the recommendations of the Justice (retired) D Murugesan committee, which was constituted by the DMK government on June 15, to look into the issue of government school students getting into professional courses. The report stated that there exists a “de facto inequalities” between the government and private school students.

The quota is applicable to the students seeking admission to UG courses offered in universities, private colleges, government aided and government colleges, provided they have studied in government schools from from class six to 12.

According to the Chief Minister, 10,000 students will get admission to engineering courses under the new reservation.