The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Circular puts schools in the State in a spot

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Friday, Jun 13, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Circular puts schools in the State in a spot

Shastry V. Mallady and Meera Srinivasan

Reservation for MBC and SC/ST candidates in Class XI admissions

CHENNAI: Several schools in the State, particularly those with private managements, are in a fix following a recent circular from the State’s School Education Department urging them to implement reservation for MBC and SC/ST candidates in Class XI admissions.

Heads of government-aided schools point to the challenge in accommodating all the students passing Class X from their school, and then having to admit candidates who belong to the MBC or SC/ST category.

Last year, the Madras High Court ruled that there shall be no admission test or cut-off marks or “re-admission” system in State Board, Matriculation or Anglo-Indian schools in Tamil Nadu if Class X students seek admission to Class XI in the same school, last June.

This would mean that no student seeking Class XI admission in the same school can be denied admission. And a new student falling in any of the above-mentioned categories, too, cannot be denied admission if he or she is eligible for reservation.

Queried on how this would be possible, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu said this was subject to the availability of seats. “All the students of a particular school, seeking Class XI admission will be admitted and for the remaining seats, reservation has to certainly be implemented,” he said.

Inconsistent demand

However, schools are facing a lot of pressure since the demand for different streams in Class XI is not uniform. Almost all the students want the computer science stream, school heads noted.

I. Elizabeth, headmistress of Nirmala Girls Higher Secondary School in Madurai, says: “In our school, a total of 705 girls have passed Class X this year. As per the rules, we have to admit all of them and only then take up applications from other students. The latest directive makes it difficult to accommodate all of them.”

According to her, implementing reservation group-wise is difficult. It would help if the Government gave schools an option to ensure that reservation was followed in the overall admission rather than in each stream, she said.

S. Gopalan of Sethupati Higher Secondary School in Madurai asks what students passing out of high schools would do. “In our school, 255 Class X students have passed and we have only four sections in Plus One. The norms say each section can have only 40 students. Where will the remaining students go?” he asks.

Though the circular was sent to schools ahead of the academic year that has just begun, the Government Order in this connection was issued in 1994, said Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi’s general secretary D. Ravikumar. “The challenge is felt more in private schools. If they are allowed to increase the number of seats, they can accommodate more students,” he said.

President of the Association of principals of Matriculation Schools in Tamil Nadu N. Vijayan said while they were yet to receive the circular, most private schools were already trying their best to accommodate such candidates.

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