Tamil Nadu ranks top in Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education since the highest financial allotment is made to the sector in the State, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy said here on Saturday.
The foresight of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in according priority for education has reflected in the state attaining 44.3 % gross enrolment ratio in higher education as against the national average of 23.6 %, the Chief Minister said while addressing the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Sri Vasavi College, his alma mater.
The Chief Minister turned nostalgic when the college management presented him with a group photo with his classmates and teachers when he was a B. Sc Zoology student of 1973- 76 batch. Mr. Palanisamy handed the first copy of the golden jubilee souvenir to School Education Minister K.A.Sengottaiyan.
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Higher Education Minister K. P. Anbazhagan said 70 new colleges were started in the last six years. There were now 58 universities and 2,407 colleges in Tamil Nadu, he said adding that initiatives were under way for broad-basing reach of higher education on technology platforms, including cloud computing and e-libraries.
Presiding over, chairman of Sri Vasavi Educational Institutions and Erode Vidya Sangam traced the growth of the college over the last 50 years to the present level of catering to higher educational needs of rural poor students through 49 departments.