All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) State Secretary and former Legislative Party Leader, A Anbalagan submitted a petition to the Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan seeking the provision of a 7.5% reservation in medical education for government school students in Puducherry. Further, Anbalagan cited that during the tenure of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi L Palaniswami, a reservation of 7.5% of government seats in medical education to students from government schools was provided through legislation.
This provision was aimed to benefit economically disadvantaged students from rural areas. Although the act faced legal challenges, it was upheld by both the Supreme Court and the High Court, he said, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
However, the previous DMK and Congress government in Puducherry did not implement this reservation. Despite repeated appeals by AIADMK over the past two years, even the National Democratic Alliance government in Puducherry has not enacted this law so far.
Further, Anbalagan highlighted that Puducherry has allocated approximately Rs 924.68 crore for the school education sector this year. Every year, around 40 students from Puducherry qualify for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam, but due to low scores, only three or four students are able to pursue medical education, he added.
By implementing the 7.5% reservation, around 28 students from government schools would have the opportunity to study medicine this year. Considering these factors, Anbalagan urged the Lt Governor, who has a background in medicine, to issue an appropriate order for separate internal allocation of government school seats in this year's CENTAC (Centralised Admission Committee) process, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
