The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Access to education

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 16, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Access to education

This refers to the article, `Equal access to education: the last chance' (Dec. 13). I do not doubt the author's commitment to the uplift of the downtrodden. However, his criticism of the IITs' admission procedure for M. Tech is unfair. I am a Scheduled Caste student who got admitted to IIT, Chennai in 1999-2001 for the M.Tech course with a GATE score of 94.01. The rest of my classmates had scores above 98. There were also other Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students with scores of 70s and 80s in other branches. Passionate advocacy of a legitimate cause should not cause collateral damage through sweeping generalisation.

T. Uday Kumar,
Bangalore

The author has stated that "we should all live to see the day when the child of the richest man in Delhi and the child of a Safari Karmachari of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi attend the same school." True. But only if both of them score the same marks.

R. Thirunarayanan,
Chidambaram, T.N.

The poor and the socially oppressed should be given chances, but not at the cost of those who sincerely work and become eligible for the same. Let there be some scholarships rather than seats reserved for the marginalised.

M.D. Sreekumar,
Kochi, Kerala

The effective answer to the problem lies in a strong and well-spread public higher education system, and not in the growth of the private higher education system and constitutional amendments to provide reservation therein.

Jandhyala Tilak,
New Delhi

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