Saturday, Jul 17, 2010
Government looking at extending Tamil medium to other branches: Ponmudy

Chennai: With over 100 students who scored more than 90 per cent in the cut-off marks opting for Tamil medium engineering courses through academic counselling, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy said the government would look at extending Tamil medium to other branches “step by step.”

The government had been contacted by many self-financing colleges wanting to start Tamil medium courses but this would have to wait for approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), he said speaking to reporters at Anna University on Wednesday. All engineering students could choose to write their examinations in Tamil or bilingually (English and Tamil), the Minister said. The government would study the response of Tamil medium students this year before coming out with similar courses in other branches from next year, he added.

As on Thursday, 119 students have taken up Tamil medium courses including nine under the physically handicapped quota.

Of them, 27 [nearly 25 per cent] had studied in the English medium in Plus Two, said V. Rhymend Uthariaraj, secretary, Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions 2010.

Mr. Ponmudy said the demand for the seats indicated that all the 1,380 available seats in the two streams would be filled by those who had scored 75 per cent or more in the cut-off marks.

Tuition waiver
The State's tuition waiver scheme for first generation graduates had also received a good response with 10,491 of the 24,868 candidates who had been allotted seats availing themselves of the scheme.

The scheme had also helped in the reduction of absentees this year, with only 16.99 per cent of those called for counselling not attending it this year, Dr. Uthariaraj said.