COIMBATORE: As the engineering admission season draws closer, the Tamil Nadu Government has written to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to permit it to admit students to BE/BTech courses on the basis of reduced eligibility norms. Recently, the AICTE had stipulated that only students who had scored a minimum aggregate of 50% marks in Math, Physics and Chemistry/Biotechnology/Biology in Plus Two board examinations can join engineering colleges. In the case of SC/ST students, the eligibility mark is 45%.Whereas, in Tamil Nadu during the previous DMK regime itself the minimum eligibility marks for admission into engineering colleges was reduced to 50% for Open Competition (OC), 45% for BC, 40% for MBC and 35% for SC/ST candidates. In this backdrop, it is reliably learnt that the State Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi has written a letter to the AICTE seeking permission to allow the admissions to be carried out on the basis of the reduced eligibility norms.Such a move would benefit students from the rural areas, and those belonging to the oppressed sections of the society, he has apparently said. Sources also indicated that Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was keen on taking up the issue personally at the highest levels in the Central Government to ensure that the students are not denied admission on account of the AICTE’s higher eligibility norms. Retaining the lower eligibility norms, in fact, is a political issue in Tamil Nadu. More than a month ago, DMK president M Karunanidhi had said that he would strive to ensure that there was no change in the eligibility criteria for BE/BTech admissions. Last year more than 3,000 students belonging to BC and SC/ST category had benefited due to the lowered eligibility norms. Interestingly, the Anna University in Chennai, the nodal agency for conducting admissions, has cautiously mentioned in the application form that ‘Changes if any in the eligibility marks will be announced later.’
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