Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced on Monday, 20 September 2021, that the state government will bear all the college-related expenses of government school students who join professional and medical courses under the newly-introduced 7.5% quota. As a result, the Tamil Nadu Government will bear educational expenses including the tuition fees, hostel fees, counselling fees, and course fees of such students. This is expected to cost a total of Rs. 250 crores to the state exchequer.
Stalin made this announcement during an event at Anna University which was organized to issue admission letters to 50 students under the special (7.5%) quota. During the distribution ceremony, Stalin pointed out that around 12,000 would join engineering colleges this year, and 350 others will join professional and medical courses like agriculture, veterinary, science, fisheries, and law.
Note: The DMK government, during the previous Assembly session, had enacted a law to provide a 7.5% quota to students who have studied in government schools from Class 6 to 12 and are seeking admissions to professional and medical courses.
Talking about the special reservation, the Chief Minister said, “At least 69 per cent of students in government schools are from rural areas and poor backgrounds. The special reservation will help in their development. It is an attempt by the DMK government to provide quality higher education to students in state-run schools, especially in rural areas.”
Your dream of becoming an engineering graduate is going to be fulfilled today. I know the struggles you would have faced to reach this place. Your parents have made a lot of sacrifices to send you here. You should make use of the opportunity. Many of you could become entrepreneurs. Approach everything from a scientific point of view. Students from rural areas should join higher education institutions in the city. The DMK government has implemented various schemes to enable this whenever we were in power,” he added.
Finally, at the end of the speech, Stalin said, “I’m here to announce that those who attained admission under 7.5% quota, their education fee, hostel fee and even counselling fee will be paid by the government.”
