All 19 prisoners, mostly life convicts, who appeared for the Plus Two examination this year have passed, sources in the Prison Department have said. Seven of them scored a first class.
The Mahatma Gandhi Community College provides education for prisoners in Tamil Nadu.
B. Raja (29), a life convict lodged in Tiruchi Central Prison, scored 902 out of 1,200 and stood first among the prisoners. He aspires to pursue a degree course.
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“We have changed the prison environment by introducing more educational programmes. Our objective is to empower the inmates with education so that they can become employable on release and contribute to family and society,” Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) J.K. Tripathy said on Thursday.
The cent per cent result would encourage and motivate other prisoners to pursue education.
“While we provided study materials, teaching faculty was sourced from city schools/colleges. Many prisoners who are graduates or post-graduates lent their support to the candidates appearing for the examination,” he said.
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The 19 inmates wrote the Plus Two examination in different central prisons.
Almost all of them have expressed a desire to join degree courses.
Prison authorities plan to felicitate them by organising a function in Chennai, the sources said.