Coimbatore: Fifteen-year-old Vignesh (name changed) was initially denied Computer Science group during the Class XI admission drive at a reputed government-aided school in the city, even though seats were available as per the rooster system of the school education department.
“I was told that my son did not score enough mark to get Computer Science group, even though seats were available. But, he had scored 349 in the Class X examination,” Vignesh’s father told TOI. “I believe that the school management was afraid that we might not be able to pay the fee as we belong to scheduled caste (SC),” he added.
It took the intervention of the eight-member committee that was formed to ensure reservation for SC/ST students in Class XI admission in government aided, self-financing, matriculation and CBSE schools, to enrol Vignesh in Computer Science group.
Like Vignesh, parents of 15 more children sought the intervention of the district collector after being sent away by schools. Subsequently, the committee inspected two private schools in the city.
“We will inspect all the schools in the district,” said a committee member.
According to the Government Order 587, while 18% of seats were reserved for SC students, 1% was reserved for ST students in higher secondary.
As per the previous year’s report, over 60 schools in the district are not following the reservation system. Of them, about 40 are in the city limit. “A school in Gandhipuram refused to admit students, who had completed Class X from there,” said a sources in the educational department. The school admitted only three out of seven SC students, even as the reserved seats remained vacant.