The Tamil Nadu government, led by CM MK Stalin, introduced a bill in the state assembly to provide a quota of 7.5 per cent reservation to government school students for all professional courses like Engineering, Law, Veterinary Sciences, fisheries and agricultural courses in universities. The reservation would apply to all government, government-aided and private colleges in the state.
Justice recommended the Bill (Retired) D Murugesan Committee after noticing that lesser government school students were enrolling on professional courses.
The Hindustan Times reported that Chief Minister MK Stalin said, "Government school students competing with private school students cannot get higher education of their choice."
The CM quoted data from the past few years to substantiate that the number of students from government schools in professional courses has gradually declined. He said that the 7.5 per cent reservation would be similar to the 7.5 per cent internal reservation introduced for undergraduate medical students last year.
Applicable To Students Who Studied In Government Schools From 6 to 12
The Committee led by the former Justice said had recommended that not less than 10 per cent of seats be reserved without affecting the existing quotas in the education system. The quota would apply to the students who have studied in government schools from Classes 6 to 12.
The Bill mentioned that the state wanted to bring equality between the students from government and private schools by "setting apart a percentage of seats on a preferential basis".
65.2% Students In India Pass Out From Government Schools
According to the data from the Education Ministry, 65.2 per cent, that is 113 million of total students in the country, study in government schools, either run by the Centre, state or local governments. Presently, Tamil Nadu's literacy rate is above 80 per cent, which is better than the national average.
The state has 45,000 government and government-aided schools compared to 13,000 private schools catering to 1,3 crore students.
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