Fifty-six students (30 girls and 26 boys) from poor families in 31 rural districts in Tamil Nadu have benefited from the Support the Advancement of Rural Students Scheme (STARS) implemented by the VIT University, Vellore.
Under this eight-year old scheme the VIT provides free admission to one boy and one girl each who topped the Plus Two public examinations from the government schools in the rural areas in each of the 31 districts of Tamil Nadu, excluding Chennai.
Such students are given admission based on merit, without the need for their appearing for the VIT Engineering Entrance Examination (VITEEE).
Annalakshmi, a student of the Government Higher Secondary School, Kandamanur village in Theni, who had obtained 1118 marks was given admission in B. Tech. IT.
Her father Chinnamurugan, a coolie-cum-cattle grazer, said that she is the second graduate in their family.
Bhoopalan, student of Periyar Ramasamy HSS in Nagarasampatti in Krishnagiri district who obtained 1118 marks is the son of Kamalesan, a washerman. The third graduate in their family, he got admission in B.Tech. (EEE).
Nandini of Vanaramutti Higher Secondary School in Tuticorin district who obtained 1132 marks is the daughter of Paramasivan, a tea stall employee. She joined B.Tech. (EEE). Mano Aravind (1134 marks) of Government HSS, Kammavanpettai in Vellore district and s/o K. Rajendran, running a cycle workshop was admitted to B.Tech. IT.
Five of the students who were admitted under the STARS Scheme, one each from Tirunelveli, Madurai, Tirupur, Kancheepuram and Nagapattinam districts, were sponsored by the Agaram Foundation run by actor Surya.
G. Viswanathan, VIT Chancellor, who distributed the admission letters to four of the students at a function held at the VIT campus here on Monday said that 2.2 lakh candidates all over India had applied for the VITEEE for admission to the nearly 4000 seats in the 19 B.Tech. programmes in the VIT campuses in Vellore and Chennai this year. He appealed to the STARS Scheme students to focus their attention on their studies during the four-year period and work hard to get placement.
Under the new system introduced in VIT this year, a student has to study everyday, and would be awarded marks on daily basis. The students would lose marks even if they were absent for a day.
S. Narayanan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of VIT said, considering the fact that the STARS Scheme students had studied in the Tamil medium, the University has arranged for special classes to enable them to acquire and improve their English language skills and computer skills. K. Chidambaram, Director, Community Radio, VIT, said that out of the 416 students who had benefited from the STARS Scheme ever since its inception, 304 were first generation graduates.
G.V. Selvam, vice-president, V. Raju, Vice-Chancellor, K. Manivannan, Director-UG Admissions and S. Tamil Maran, Project Officer, Centre for Sustainable Rural Development & Research Studies, VIT participated.
