Ensure government students get priority in medical admissions, says K.S. Alagiri
The Hindu
The TN Congress Committee president pointed out that the State government’s legislation for providing 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students had enabled only 405 students to get admission in the 3,400 seats last year
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.S. Alagiri on Monday urged Chief Minister M. K. Stalin to mull ways to ensure that students from government schools get priority in medical college admissions. In a statement, he pointed out that the State government’s legislation for providing 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students had enabled only 405 students to get admission out of the 3,400 seats and the remaining seats had gone to students from CBSE and private matriculation schools last year. Mr. Alagiri said this was a big injustice caused by the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.