2013 Government Order on coaching for tribal students never executed: RTI
MADURAI: A response to an RTI query, regarding the state government's efforts to ensure tribal students secure admission to prominent higher educational institutions, has revealed that a G.O. passed in 2013 towards offering special coaching for such schoolchildren was not implemented. Administrative reasons were cited for the same.
Responding to an RTI filed by activist S Karthik seeking information on the efforts taken by the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing & Development Corporation (TAHDCO) to get tribal students into some of the top institutions like IIT and NIT for the past 12 years and how many benefited from that, TAHDCO's public information officer (PIO) stated that the state government passed G.O. 76 on October 15, 2013, to provide special coaching to around 50 students at a cost of Rs 2 lakh per ward for two years. Every year the government were to allocate Rs 50 lakh. However, it was not implemented due to administrative reasons, the official added.
Karthik told TNIE that, like this G.O, many schemes meant for the welfare of tribals are only on paper. Compared to other community students, tribal students lag behind in education. If this G.O. had been implemented effectively, at least 600 tribal students could have joined IITs and NITs over the past 12 years, he said.
He further requested the government to implement the G.O. and also allocate additional funds of Rs 2 crore as well as form a committee led by the collector to monitor the programme.
While confirming there being no special scheme that provides coaching to tribal students appearing for JEE, a TAHDCO official on condition of anonymity said the department is imparting state-level skill training for them in order to make them crack competitive exams.
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