The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Plea to limit seats for `improvement students'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Plea to limit seats for `improvement students'

Staff Reporter

Fresh students cornered only 10 per cent of ranks Last year, nearly 80% of medical and dental seats went to students who had written the main or entrance exam more than once

CHENNAI: A Plus Two student has moved the Madras High Court to direct the authorities not to admit `improvement students' in more than 20 per cent of the total medical and dental seats in the State.

When the matter came up before Justice Prabha Sridevan for hearing, she directed the Government advocate to obtain instructions from the competent authorities within two weeks.

In his petition, M. Raja Rajeshwaran said that because of the introduction of a new syllabus from the next academic year, the present batch of Plus Two students would have to follow a new syllabus if they wrote the improvement examination. This would give rise to an anomalous situation in which they would be required to study a new syllabus for their improvement examination, while all the past and future students would enjoy repeated opportunities based on the same syllabus.

The petitioner said the entrance examination results for the current academic year, published on May 12, had thrown up some "alarming facts," with more than 90 per cent of the top ranks being cornered by improvement stream students, who had taken their Plus Two examination last year and improved upon their entrance examination scores alone this year.

Alleging "unequal competition" among students, the petitioner said his recent representation to competent authorities to frame a scheme to remove the anomaly or to create a separate quota for improvement stream students had not evoked any response.

Last year, nearly 80 per cent of the medical and dental seats were cornered by students who had written either the main examination or the entrance examination more than once, he said.

He prayed for a direction to the authorities to restrict the number of seats for improvement students to 20 per cent, and to direct the authorities to consider his representation.

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