Members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) along with students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities of Nilakottai staged a protest in front of the Collectorate on Monday demanding that bugs be fixed in the online application for community certificates.
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The protest led by SFI district president K. Mugesh, the students claimed that over 200 eligible students, from the Kattu Naicker community in N. Pudupatti in Nilakottai Town Panchayat, had been receiving academic scholarships through the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department until the previous academic year. It was facilitated using the old community certificates which were issued after due verification by the officials.
“Since the old one has been declared invalid, educational institutions demand the new ‘ST community certificates’ issued by the State to avail the benefits. When applied online, due to various issues, they get rejected, only leaving the poor students in lurch during the current academic year,” said Mr. Mugesh.
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He added if the issue is not fixed well before time, the students would be asked to pay from their pockets, which is a big challenge. “This invariably affects their education,” he said.
The protestors also submitted a petition, seeking the acceptance of the old community certificates so as to not disrupt the students’ education, to Collector S. Visakan during the weekly grievances redressal meeting.
SFI district secretary G. Deepakraj, DYFI district secretary K. R. Balaji and others were present.