The TN Chief Minister has constituted a panel headed by the retired CJ of Delhi High court Justice D.Murugesan to study “ fewer govt school kids in Engineering Colleges”. The panel brief is to study the reasons for poor enrolment of students from Govt run schools into Engineering, Agriculture and other professional courses. Admission to these institutions are done through a “single window” process based on the marks scored by the candidates in the
12 th Board examinations. Common entrance tests for these courses were discontinued long back. Every year the admission is done, on a descending basis, on “ cut off” marks announced for every stage of counselling.
The students were admitted on merit basis only, but how did the students studying in Govt schools fail to make it ? Do all the students , so admitted, fare well in academics in the colleges?
As per the 2020 statistics, more than 5 lakh students of Anna University have 01 to 66 papers/subjects as arrears. This is nearly three times the total intake / admission to the engineering courses in TN. In 2019 more than 50% of the students admitted into Anna University failed to clear first semester exams. In some colleges it was nil or single digit only. The state has the highest number of unemployed engineering graduates. Experts/ HR professionals say only 20% of the engineering graduates passing out every year are “ employable”. The state is leading in enrolment of students to Degree and Post Degree courses. How many of them are “employable” ?
Will this panel/committee and earlier one headed by Justice ( Rtd) AK Rajan , to probe the effect of NEET go into finer details? Both these panels/committees lack, unlike commissions, quasi-Judicial power. Justice Murugesan panel may, like NEET, recommend quota within quota for students passing out of Govt run schools. But that is not the long term solution. It has been said time and again, by several experts, that the School curriculum, teaching methods, and test/examination process need total revamp. Most of the present day teachers failed to pass the mandatory “ Teachers Eligibility Test”. The new “ National Education Policy 2020” drafted by experts, after exhaustive study, discussions with all the stakeholders, over 10 years, is welcomed by many in the education field. The NEP 2020 designed to address all these issues, make education ‘Objective’ to meet the expectations of our younger generation.
