Anxiety of parents to get their children admitted in schools that have produced good results in SSLC is apparently matched by the desire of such schools to attract top-notch performers.
Some schools have announced fee concessions to attract best students. A few schools have also announced total waiver of fee for students who have scored 480 and above out of 500, emulating the strategy adopted by schools in Namakkal district. Those securing a little lesser will have to pay only a part of the tuition fee.
Not adverse
The school education department is not averse to schools attracting best students, but has emphasised that the institutions should desist from refusing admission to their own students.
The department, said Chief Educational Officer K.Selvakumar was empowered to cancel recognition for schools that do not accord preference for their own students. “Where else will students of English medium schools who rank below the cut-off fixed by the schools go?
There is little scope for them to join government higher secondary schools where the teaching-learning process is in Tamil.” Some of the schools have been enhancing intake capacity for Plus One.
“We do make it a point to admit students who had studied up to SSLC in their own institutions though some of them will have to settle for the group for which they are eligible,” said a head of a matriculation school.
Heavy rush for admission in schools with hostel facilities on the outskirts of Tiruchi and Thanjavur districts is quite conspicuous. Parents perceive that admitting their wards in hostels is ideal since the students would be free of distraction and will be in a position to perform due to peer influence.
A visible factor this year was the beeline made by students in Tiruchi district at schools in neighbouring Namakkal district that have been consistently bagging State-level ranks in the public examinations over the years. Most of the schools there admit students in Plus One in excess of 1,200. “We offer fee concession to at least 200 students with top-scores on first-come-first-served basis,” said Guruvayurappan, Botany teacher and one of the directors of Green Park Matriculation Higher Secondary School, where one of the students secured State second in Plus Two.
Expense
On an average, the expenses these schools bear for students enjoying fee concession exceed Rs.70,000 per annum per head. Such students are grouped in a single section for special attention to secure State and district-level ranks, according to K.Thangavel, teacher-cum-director of Kurinji Matriculation Higher Secondary School, which also produced State-level ranks consecutively in the previous years.
