Demand for 5 percent quota for Tamil medium students in MBBS admissions: Madras High Court issues notices to State, DME
Chennai: On a petition seeking reservation of 5 percent in MBBS admissions for students who completed their studies in Tamil language, the Madras High Court has sought inputs from the State government and Directorate of Medical Education of Tamil Nadu.
The notices have been issued to the authorities by the HC division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha based on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one concerned Murugesan who claimed that Tamil medium students do not get MBBS seats so easily in medical colleges in spite of clearing National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
The petitioner had earlier made a representation with the government in November last year demanding the said reservation, however when no response came from the authorities, he moved the high court.
In his plea, the petitioner had presented an RTI response to the court, quoting which, he submitted that out of the 5,400 MBBS seats available in the medical colleges across the state, only less than 5% seats were secured by students who had studied in Tamil medium.
He notified the bench about the seats acquired by Tamil medium students in the past few academic years:
It was pointed out that such circumstances where Tamil medium students secured much less seats despite clearing NEET like any other student, a negative outlook has been created in the minds of these students.
Read Also: Opposition to MBBS entrance NEET continues in Tamil Nadu; plea filed in Supreme Court
TOI quotes the petitioner as stating, “Such circumstance has created a false image among students who are pursuing school education in Tamil that they would not be able to secure a MBBS seat in government run medical college.”
He drew an example from the neighbouring state – Karnataka which is already implementing 5% reservation in medical seats for candidates who have completed school education in Kannada medium.
Mentioning this, he sought the same for Tamil Nadu state. “The Tamil Nadu government which takes several steps for the growth and to safeguard Tamil language should also provide such reservation which would encourage more students to opt for Tamil medium in school education.”
Medical Dialogues had recently reported that with the beginning of the New Year, the Tamil Nadu state has received Central government’s nod for the establishment of 4 more medical colleges with 150 MBBS seats each. Earlier, the establishment of 9 medical colleges was confirmed.
Read Also: Tamil Nadu to cross 9,000 MBBS seats mark with 4 new medical colleges
The notices have been issued to the authorities by the HC division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha based on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one concerned Murugesan who claimed that Tamil medium students do not get MBBS seats so easily in medical colleges in spite of clearing National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
The petitioner had earlier made a representation with the government in November last year demanding the said reservation, however when no response came from the authorities, he moved the high court.
In his plea, the petitioner had presented an RTI response to the court, quoting which, he submitted that out of the 5,400 MBBS seats available in the medical colleges across the state, only less than 5% seats were secured by students who had studied in Tamil medium.
He notified the bench about the seats acquired by Tamil medium students in the past few academic years:
- In -17, only 537 Tamil medium students got seats in MBBS course.
- In 2017-18, this further reduced to 52 students.
- In 2018-19, only 106 Tamil medium students got admission to MMBS course in state colleges, which constitutes only 2% of the total seats
It was pointed out that such circumstances where Tamil medium students secured much less seats despite clearing NEET like any other student, a negative outlook has been created in the minds of these students.
Read Also: Opposition to MBBS entrance NEET continues in Tamil Nadu; plea filed in Supreme Court
TOI quotes the petitioner as stating, “Such circumstance has created a false image among students who are pursuing school education in Tamil that they would not be able to secure a MBBS seat in government run medical college.”
He drew an example from the neighbouring state – Karnataka which is already implementing 5% reservation in medical seats for candidates who have completed school education in Kannada medium.
Mentioning this, he sought the same for Tamil Nadu state. “The Tamil Nadu government which takes several steps for the growth and to safeguard Tamil language should also provide such reservation which would encourage more students to opt for Tamil medium in school education.”
Medical Dialogues had recently reported that with the beginning of the New Year, the Tamil Nadu state has received Central government’s nod for the establishment of 4 more medical colleges with 150 MBBS seats each. Earlier, the establishment of 9 medical colleges was confirmed.
Read Also: Tamil Nadu to cross 9,000 MBBS seats mark with 4 new medical colleges
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