SC/ST grant: Students made to enter exam halls 30 minutes late
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:16.11.2018
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students of a private engineering college in the suburbs were last week not allowed to enter their exam hall for half an hour as punishment for the government not paying the fees.
The Tamil Nadu government has not released the SC/ ST Post Matriculation Scholarship amount since June 2017 saying the Centre had failed to release its share. Caught in this crossfire were students from Shri Andal Alagar College Of Engineering in Mamandur and thousands of others from engineering colleges affiliated to the state-run Anna University. N Anitha*, a second year student, said, “Despite explaining our situation, we were not allowed inside the exam hall for the first 30 minutes.” Andal Alagar College initially denied penalising the students in this manner, but later said it would look into the matter.
Dip in SC/ST students joining engg
Chennai: “Minutes before the exam had begun, we were asked to report to the office room. I was not able to focus on the exam and complete (the exam) on time,” Anitha said.
The management, however, did admit that students were repeatedly pulled up for not paying the fees. It is not up to the students to pay the fees, the government pays the college directly.
K Dinakaran*, another student from a private engineering college in Kancheepuram, has not got his hall ticket for exams that were scheduled this week, but were since postponed. "But I don't know whether I'll be able to allowed to write it," he said. The 19-year-old is the first from his hamlet to pursue higher education.
For the first time in eight years, there has been a major dip in the number of SC/ST students joining engineering colleges through Anna University counselling. From 42,000 in 2017-18, the number has come down to 32,000 (23% drop) in 2018-19, according to official data. Even when overall engineering admission figures declined due to poor placements and quality, SC/ ST enrolment was on the rise.
Dalit and Tribal students' rights activists have attributed this to amendments to the PMS scheme. The Tamil Nadu Adi Dravida Welfare Department, state agency which implements the scheme, issued an order in July 2018 removing SC/ST students joining private and government aided institutions under the management quota from the ambit of the scheme. The move was based on revised guidelines released by the Union Social Justice and Welfare Ministry.
However, R Christodas Gandhi, retired IAS official who is now with the Ambedkar Kalvi Centenary Movement, said, "The state government misinterpreted the Centre's revised guidelines. By 'management quota’, the Centre referred only to the 10% seats filled by managements of government aided college and not the 35% seats in self-financing (or private) colleges filled through a consortium for private colleges".
The state government has not released the SC/ST Post Matriculation Scholarship amount since June 2017
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:16.11.2018
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students of a private engineering college in the suburbs were last week not allowed to enter their exam hall for half an hour as punishment for the government not paying the fees.
The Tamil Nadu government has not released the SC/ ST Post Matriculation Scholarship amount since June 2017 saying the Centre had failed to release its share. Caught in this crossfire were students from Shri Andal Alagar College Of Engineering in Mamandur and thousands of others from engineering colleges affiliated to the state-run Anna University. N Anitha*, a second year student, said, “Despite explaining our situation, we were not allowed inside the exam hall for the first 30 minutes.” Andal Alagar College initially denied penalising the students in this manner, but later said it would look into the matter.
Dip in SC/ST students joining engg
Chennai: “Minutes before the exam had begun, we were asked to report to the office room. I was not able to focus on the exam and complete (the exam) on time,” Anitha said.
The management, however, did admit that students were repeatedly pulled up for not paying the fees. It is not up to the students to pay the fees, the government pays the college directly.
K Dinakaran*, another student from a private engineering college in Kancheepuram, has not got his hall ticket for exams that were scheduled this week, but were since postponed. "But I don't know whether I'll be able to allowed to write it," he said. The 19-year-old is the first from his hamlet to pursue higher education.
For the first time in eight years, there has been a major dip in the number of SC/ST students joining engineering colleges through Anna University counselling. From 42,000 in 2017-18, the number has come down to 32,000 (23% drop) in 2018-19, according to official data. Even when overall engineering admission figures declined due to poor placements and quality, SC/ ST enrolment was on the rise.
Dalit and Tribal students' rights activists have attributed this to amendments to the PMS scheme. The Tamil Nadu Adi Dravida Welfare Department, state agency which implements the scheme, issued an order in July 2018 removing SC/ST students joining private and government aided institutions under the management quota from the ambit of the scheme. The move was based on revised guidelines released by the Union Social Justice and Welfare Ministry.
However, R Christodas Gandhi, retired IAS official who is now with the Ambedkar Kalvi Centenary Movement, said, "The state government misinterpreted the Centre's revised guidelines. By 'management quota’, the Centre referred only to the 10% seats filled by managements of government aided college and not the 35% seats in self-financing (or private) colleges filled through a consortium for private colleges".
The state government has not released the SC/ST Post Matriculation Scholarship amount since June 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment