Tribal boy in Tamil Nadu leaves cattle rearing for pastures new

After a three-year wait, Chandran gets admission to his dream course in agriculture

Born with 10 siblings in a poor tribal family in a remote hamlet on the Bargur Hills in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, all that U. Chandran wanted after completing Class 12 was to pursue a degree programme in agriculture or veterinary science.

“My family did cattle rearing and farming, in which I also took part. Naturally, I was inclined to become a trained professional in that field,” he said.

After studying in a school run under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) for few years, Chandran subsequently stayed in a Tribal Welfare department-run hostel to complete Class 12 by specialising in the vocational stream — Agricultural Practices — in 2019.

Despite scoring 98% in core subjects and 74% in total in Class 12, Chandran could not get admission to the courses he wanted due to the systemic unfairness in the admission processes of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) towards students from vocational streams.

While the seat arithmetic in TANUVAS did not allow the reservation of a single seat for a tribal student from the vocational stream, TNAU allowed vocational stream students only in its own colleges and not in its affiliated colleges. Even in its own colleges, TNAU did not apply reservation policies in the admission of vocational stream students.

Dejected with not being able to get a seat, Chandran went back to cattle rearing in his village while occasionally working as a labourer in textile companies in the region in the last three years. “I did not think that I will be good at any other course. So, I went back to cattle rearing to support my family,” says Chandran.

With the encouragement of the non-governmental organisation Sudar that has helped in his education since school, Chandran applied every year to TNAU and TANUVAS since 2019, only to get rejected.