PUDUCHERRY: For all that the government lobbied for more seats from the self-financing medical colleges in the Union Territory, the latter surrendered 265 seats - the same number as in the previous year, Chief Minister N Rangasamy said. The decision came about during the second round of seat sharing talks held between the government and the representatives of the seven self-financing colleges, under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister on Saturday. The seat sharing agreement would be signed on Monday.A total of 475 seats are up for grabs under CENTAC in Puducherry - 105 seats in the government medical college, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (IGMCRI) and 370 seats from other colleges. Besides, some seats would be available under the government of India quota in medical colleges in other states. The complete list would be made known to the administration soon.The self-financing colleges refused to buckle under pressure when the Chief Minister pressed for the surrender of 50 per cent seats. For one, the colleges cited the government medical college. The Tamil Nadu scenario fuelled their argument further. In the neighbouring state, they said, there were 2,900 MBBS seats for seven lakh students, where as in Puducherry there were already 105 seats in the government medical college for just 7,000 students - four times more than Tamil Nadu.Many other reasons were put forth by the self-financing colleges. They reasoned that despite only brilliant students entering the citadel of medical studies, 35 per cent of the students failed in the first year itself and even cited similar scenarios in Bihar and Orissa, where only the brightest of the lot found entry into medical studies.The best students from the UT secured admission in IGMCRI and the students lower down the merit got admitted to the seats in the self-financing medical colleges through CENTAC. If more seats were offered, students with much lower percentages would gain entry and it might be difficult for the students to pass out. Moreover, the educational assistance given under the Perunthaliavar Kamarajar Financial Assistance Scheme also eluded students when they failed, making the payment of fees difficult. The colleges explained that they had been facing difficulty even from students who had been covered under the scheme. Unable to bear the burden, the latter would request for postponement of payment of fees with some even applying political pressure.The colleges maintained that without the payment of fees they found it difficult to run their colleges. On the other hand, the colleges claimed that they did not admit students who secured less that 85 per cent under the management quota, with bright students with high percentages from the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh seeking admission.Backed by all these aruguments, the self-financing institutions surrendered the same number of seats as in the previous year. The four deemed medical institutions will surrender 24 per cent of the seats, while the other three medical colleges will give 35 per cent seats.The break-up reads thus - Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute - 37 seats, Sri Lakshminarayana Institute of Medical Sciences - 37 seats, Arupadai Veedu Medical College - 24 seats, Vinayaga Mission Medical College, Karaikal - 24 seats, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences - 35 seats, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College - 54 seats and Sri Venkateswara Medical College - 54 seats.
Comments
0 comment