7.5% quota may help 300 from govt schools

2ND, 3RD TRY FOR A FEW CANDIDATES

7.5% quota may help 300 from govt schools

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

17.11.2020

More than 300 students from humble backgrounds could enter medical colleges in the state this year thanks to the 7.5% special reservation for government school students. Of the 5,750 seats, 313 will be filled by these students.

N Jeevithkumar, a government school student from Siluvarpatti in Theni district, topped his category with 664 of 720 marks.

His father K Narayanamoorthi rears goats for a living, while his mother N Parameswari works in the 100-day job guarantee scheme. His teachers helped him join a private coaching institute.

Suryalakshmi S M of Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Porur in Chennai scored 368 marks in her first attempt. “With the help of mentors from KMC and my school teachers, I prepared for a whole year and was able to score 536 out of 720 in my second attempt,” said the daughter of a casual worker at a flour mill.

Even then, she may not have got a seat as the cut-off for BC students is likely to go up to 550 marks. But, thanks to 7.5% reservation, she is now expected to get into the prestigious Madras Medical College.

Hari Krishnan S of the Government Higher Secondary School in Lalgudi, Trichy, with 423 marks and ranked 38th in his category, is likely to get into one of the top three government colleges. “In the beginning I didn’t have the confidence to do well in NEET. My confidence grew along with practice,” he said. His only coaching was the state government’s online test series and video lectures. His father works in a grocery store.

“Without the 7.5% reservation, only 15 students would have got MBBS admissions from government schools. Though the reservation is justified, there is a huge gap between government school students and others as the cut-off may differ at least by 200 marks in all the categories,” said career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi.

“We need to train government school teachers to prepare students for exams such as NEET,” said Dr Prasad Mane, secretary, Kilpauk Medical College Alumni Association, adding that they are willing to help government school students in the first and second year of MBBS too.