Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday said the Bill to provide 7.5% horizontal quota for students from State government schools was brought about considering the challenges faced by such students 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 into professional programmes they desired. It was hard for students from State government schools to compete with students from private schools.
Only 0.83% of students from government schools were admitted into engineering programmes in Anna University in 2020-21, he pointed out. It was 6.31% and 0.44% in State-run engineering colleges and State-aided engineering colleges respectively.
In veterinary programmes, their admission was 3% during 2020-21, which was less than the previous year. The same was the case in fisheries programmes, which stood at 3.7% last year, he pointed out.
Only 4.89% of students in agriculture programmes were from State government schools. In Tamil Nadu National Law University in Tiruchi, which admits students based on an entrance exam, the number of students from State government schools was less than 1%.
In 1997, the Tamil Nadu government reserved 15% of seats for students from schools in rural areas considering the less number of such students getting admitted in professional programmes (all though it was eventually scrapped by the judiciary). It also granted a concession to first-generation graduates in paying tuition fees.
Later in 2006, the State government scrapped the entrance exam conducted for admission into professional programmes. Since 2007-08, students were being admitted into these programmes based on their marks obtained in Class 12 examinations.
Last year, the State government passed a legislation to reserve 7.5% of seats in undergraduate medical admissions for government students who qualified National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
