Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to intervene and allow reimbursement of fees for SC/ST students against management quota seats.
In a demi-official letter to Mr Modi, a copy of which was released to media here, Mr Palaniswami also requested to release early the pending Central Assistance to the States without any change and said since the admission process for Higher and Technical Education courses in the state is about to begin the request may kindly consider on priority and accordingly direct the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
He brought to the attention of the Prime Minister that the recent revision of guidelines for the Post-Matric Scholarship scheme, wherein it has been stated that the fees claimed against the Management quota/Spot admission seat in any institutions / Universities will not be reimbursed with effect from April, 2018.
The Chief Minister stated that in Tamil Nadu, a large number of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribe students belonging to poor economic background who are not able to get admission under the Government quota on merit, have been availing the benefit under the Post Matric Scholarship scheme under management quota seats in self financing colleges.
Mr Palaniswami said that these students who have so far, benefited by the Post Matric scholarship scheme had led to a large number of these students joining the Higher and Technical education institutions in the State.
In fact, this scheme has largely benefitted the State to achieve higher Gross Enrollment Ratio of more than 45 per cent.
He noted that non-reimbursement of fees for management quota seats under the new guidelines, will create a huge set back in achieving the goal of social equity and social justice, as it will deny opportunities to the poor SC/ST students in the fields of higher and technical education and this may cause serious resentment and unrest among the SC/ST community.
The Chief Minister further said instead of strengthening this scheme in the interest of achieving social justice and promoting the welfare of SC/ST, the revised guidelines will only dilute the State's efforts in this regard.
