Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the number of contact class centres in the State, including one in Chennai, for the Udaan scheme announced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The scheme is to mentor girl students to compete for admission to premier engineering colleges, including Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and National Institutes of Technology (NIT). Under the scheme, 1,000 girl students studying in class XI and XII under all boards of education are to be selected on merit to receive special online and direct coaching for entering into IITs and NITs.
Applicants need to select the city to attend the contact class centre and Tamil Nadu has only two cities in the list. Being a leading state in education, a number of students would be eligible under the scheme. It is surprising that out of the 151 contact class centres only two have been provided for Tamil Nadu, he said in a letter to Modi.
While a large number of centres have been provided in many other states, having only two in Tamil Nadu, which has a substantial girl student population in the science stream, is inadequate. This would act as a dampener for participation by girl students. Apprehension about having to travel long distances to attend contact classes will reduce response from eligible candidates.
It is surprising that Chennai does not have a contact centre unlike other large metros. This will deprive a large number of eligible girl students of an opportunity to participate.
Panneerselvam requested Modi to extend the last date for applications for the programme to November 30 to enable eligible girl students from Tamil Nadu to apply for admission under the scheme, he said.