CHENNAI: The scrapping of the common entrance test for professional admissions by the State government may not have actually given rural students the promised level playing field — in terms of the best of engineering and medical seats — an analysis of the Plus Two Board examination results has shown.

No requisite cut-off marks

Out of a total of 66 educational districts, no student has scored the requisite engineering cut-off marks of 197 out of 200 in ten rural districts, and 30 districts had only less than six students meeting the score, according to an exclusive analysis done for The Hindu by Salem-based consultant, Jayaprakash Gandhi.

Similarly, no student in eight rural educational districts has scored the requisite cut-off for medical admission either — 194 marks out of 200. Almost 27 rural districts had less than six students touching the score.

On the contrary, out of a total of 1,326 students scoring the necessary engineering cut-off, 90 per cent are urban. Similarly, out of 1,289 students with the required medical cut-off, 90 per cent are from cities.

Namakkal alone has 229 students with the engineering cut-off score, Chennai city (which has four educational districts) has 215 students, Coimbatore has 86 students, and Tiruchi and Madurai have 30 students each.

Three rural districts — Gudalur, Aranthangi and Udaiyarpalayam — did not have any candidate scoring even 195 marks out of 200, required for admitting MBC students.

A total of 24 districts had less than ten candidates making the mark.

Namakkal alone had 458 students, followed by Chennai with 437 students and Coimbatore with 184 students.

In medical admission, Usilampatti, Gudalur, Aranthangi and Nagapattinam rural districts did not have any student in the 192 marks out of 200 slot (required for MBC admissions), 28 rural districts had less than ten students. Namakkal alone had 433 students making the grade.

Students from Chennai, Namakkal and Gobichettipalayam will hold sway over medical seats, followed by urban centres such as Tirunelvei, Madurai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Salem and Pondicherry.

The analysis also found that while there would be no need to be apprehensive about tied marks in the top tier of medical admission, the problem would arise only when scores go below 197.5, when at each level of 0.25 marks, anywhere between 50 to 120 students would be tied, necessitating selection based on date of birth.

In engineering admissions, the ties would begin at the cut-off of 199.75 marks where 38 ties would be tied.

Not many seats in

a single branch

Down the list, 151 students would be tied at 197.75 marks. "The problem is that no college has so many seats in a single branch, which means students with the same marks cannot hope to get into the same college. Being born a few days or weeks later would mean you lose out on preferred colleges," Mr. Gandhi says.

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