Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday said the Bill to provide 7.5% horizontal reservation to students from State government schools was brought about considering the challenges they faced in obtaining admissions into professional programmes in the State.
While introducing the Bill, Mr. Stalin said due to certain socio-economic conditions not all students were able to obtain admissions in the professional programmes they wanted. It was hard for students from State government schools to compete with those from private schools.
Only 0.83% of students from government schools were admitted into engineering programmes in Anna University in 2020-21, he said. It was 6.31% and 0.44% in State-run engineering colleges and State-aided engineering colleges respectively.
Low numbers
In veterinary programmes, their admission was 3% in 2020-21 — less than the previous year. The same was the case in fisheries programmes, which stood at 3.7% last year, he said.
Only 4.89% of students in agriculture programmes were from State government schools.
In the Tamil Nadu National Law University in Tiruchi, which admits students based on an entrance exam, the number of students from State government schools was under 1%.
In 1997, the Tamil Nadu government reserved 15% seats for students from schools in rural areas considering the less number of such students getting admitted into professional programmes [eventually scrapped by the judiciary].
It also granted a concession to first-generation graduates in the payment of tuition fees.
Exam scrapped
Later in 2006, the State government scrapped the entrance exam conducted for admissions into professional programmes.
Since 2007-08, students are being admitted into these programmes based on marks obtained in Class XII examinations.
Last year, the State passed legislation to reserve 7.5% seats in undergraduate medical admissions for government students who have qualified National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
