Private colleges urged to admit students under ‘Free Education Scheme’

Coimbatore: Academicians have urged private colleges affiliated with Bharathiar University to admit poor students under the ‘Free Education Scheme’, as per the university’s guidelines.
The scheme was introduced by the university in the 2007-08 academic year to benefit poor students on merit-cum-economic status.
Under the scheme, 5% of the seats should be allocated to poor students. There are 140 private and government-aided colleges affiliated to Bharathiar University.
“Private colleges implemented the scheme when it was introduced. But in the following years, they failed to admit students under the scheme due to a lack of monitoring. Some private colleges filled the seats under the scheme by charging students, making the seats unavailable to poor students,” vice-president of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) P Thirunavukkarasu said.
However, the colleges again started admitting students under the scheme in the 2022-23 academic year.
Syndicate member of the Bharathiar University F X Loveline Little Flower said, “Students will be admitted under the scheme this year based on their merit and economic status.”
According to the university, preference will be given to students who come under the following categories - orphans, destitute, single parents, sons or daughters of divorcees and children supported by NGOs.
Students can download the prescribed application from the university website. They should send the filled-in application to the respective principal of the affiliated college or the head of the department (HOD) in the university.
“A separate counselling will be conducted to select the students under this scheme,” he added.
Thirunavukkarasu urged the university to monitor the admission under the scheme.