‘Govt funding should have been announced earlier’

‘Govt funding should have been announced earlier’

Many Govt School Students Can’t Afford Fees In Pvt Med Colleges

A Ragu Raman & M K Ananth TNN

Chennai/Madurai:  23.11.2020 

The state’s move to fund the expenses of government school students who have secured MBBS seats in private colleges under the 7.5% quota has left many wishing that the announcement should have come earlier. Distraught that their poor parents couldn’t even afford the ₹25,000 deposit, leave alone the ₹3.8 lakh-4 lakh annual fees, many of these students have opted to be waitlisted.

For MBBS, under this quota, there were 227 seats in government medical colleges and 86 in private institutions; and for BDS, there were 12 seats in two government dental colleges and 80 seats in private institutions.

At the end of the three-day counselling, except for 6 BDS seats in private colleges, all seats were filled; 180 students opted to be waitlisted. S Dhulfiya of Thali village near Udumalpet in Tirupur district, with 192 marks, got 260th rank among government school students and 14th among BCM candidates. Called for counselling on November 18, she said she would have taken a seat had government announced its decision three days earlier.

“I hoped for admission in a government college. But those seats were filled. Seats in PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research and Vellammal Medical College in Madurai were available.

Considering the ₹4 lakh annual fee, my father did not opt for an MBBS seat,” she said. Her father is a small vendor and a part-time driver. “The government should consider allocating a seat and sponsoring me,” she added.

S Thangapetchi of Paana Mooppanpatti in Usilampatti taluk, eldest of four daughters of a couple who are farmworkers, also wished that the government announcement had come sooner. Scoring 155 marks in NEET, she was ranked 438th among government school students and 149th in MBC category.

By the second day of counselling, when she attended, the government seats had been taken and she was left to choose from the 10 seats left in private colleges. She came out of the counseling hall in tears as her family could not pay the ₹25,000 deposit or the nearly ₹6 lakh annual fee for the next five years. Her plight was taken to the notice of the chief minister’s office and on Saturday Madurai collector T Anbalagan contacted the girl’s family.

FINANCIAL STRIFE: S Thangapetchi’s (2nd from left) family wasn’t able to pay a deposit of ₹25,000 for a seat in a pvt medical college