G Imanuvel (17) and M Arunpandi (18) who had scored 165 and 190 marks respectively in their first attempt in NEET have petitioned the district collector R Kannan to help them get seats in private colleges under the 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation.
During the first two days of counselling, both of them had secured seats in private colleges, but could not avail them due to lack of economic resources. Speaking to Express, Imanuvel, who studied at Government Higher Secondary School, Sevalpatti, said, "We went for counseling on the second day. However, though I had the option of joining a private colleges, we were told we will have to pay around 4-6 lakhs per year. As we do not have that sort of money, we did not apply to the college."
Imanuvel, whose parents work as labourers in the firecracker industrial units, prepared on his own for the examination besides his daily school lessons. His teachers have a high regard for him and said he had a lot of potential/ They believed that if he could get a seat, he would shine bright in the field. In a similar incident, Arunpandi from Kadambankulam of Tiruchuli, who studied at the Tiruchuli Government Higher Secondary School, also could not get a seat due to the same reason.
"I attended the counselling on the first day. As we could not afford the fees, we came back devastated", he said. Both his parents are daily wage labourers, while one is a farm labourers, another is a manual labourer. Speaking to TNIE, his teacher Sambath Kumar said, "He was a very bright and hardworking student. He attended the free coaching provided by the government and prepared for the examination on his own. The only reason he did not get into a medical college is his family's economic situation." He further added that as around 150 students from the previous years got added for this year's counselling, he was again pushed back in the rank list.
The student had secured 115th rank earlier, he added. Both the students have petitioned the collector seeking his assistance to get an admission as government has come forward to bear the educational fees. Collector Kannan said that their petition will be forwarded by the collectorate. "However, we have asked the students to give their representation in person at Chennai. As they refused to get admitted, the seats might have been filled up by other students. Based on their petition, the government will take necessary steps to assist them", he added. Both the students are waiting for Cyclone Nivar to pass so that they can travel again to Chennai to submit their petitions. "If there is any chance to become a doctor, any door to knock, we will do it", both of the students said.
