MADURAI
M. Kishore Kumar, a Class VI student from Devakottai in Sivaganga district, belonging to a Scheduled Caste community, has been denied admission as per a scheme of the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare (ADTW) department by a private residential school in Madurai district.
According to officials in the ADTW department, the student, who completed Class V in Chairman Manickavasagam Middle School in Devakottai, was among the 11 meritorious students from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities selected under the scheme in Sivaganga district for the academic year 2018-19.
The scheme allows students to continue their schooling from Class VI to Class XII in a reputed residential school of their choice, for which the school and hostel fees will be reimbursed by ADTW department, officials said.
Kishore Kumar’s parents had opted for the Mahatma Montessori Matriculation Higher Secondary School (Residential) in Alagarkoil here.
An order by Sivaganga district administration dated August 21, 2018, asking the schools concerned to admit the students, was recently handed over to the parents.
S. Manickam, the boy’s father, working as an electrician on daily wages, alleged that he faced a hostile response when he approached the school on Wednesday.
“We first approached the school in July since the ADTW department in Sivaganga said that the issuance of order will take more time. At that time, the school said they cannot consider without an official communication. However, they refused to admit even when we approached the school with the order now,” he said.
P. Hamsapriya, Academic Head, Mahatma Schools, said that the school had no knowledge of such a scheme and never received any direct communication from officials for the admission. She said that it was also confusing as to how a student from Sivaganga district was granted admission in Madurai.
“Importantly, we never admit any students in the middle of the academic year,” Ms. Hamsapriya said. .
The school said that the officials in the School Education Department and ADTW department in Madurai were unaware when checked about the the particular order.
Though the order said that it had been copied to all schools concerned, an official from ADTW department in Sivaganga acknowledged that no communication had been sent to schools. “They could have checked with us if needed,” he said.