VELLORE: Sixteen-year-old R Nandhini, who scored 198 in chemistry, 197 in biology and 198 in physics in the Class XII public examination, dreamt of becoming a doctor. But today, her hope of pursuing MBBS at a government medical college may never be fulfilled because she being a refugee is not eligible for admission under the government quota.
Her father T Raja, who works as a painter and lives in Arachalur Refugee camp in Erode, managed to educate her and she hoped to get admission to a government college after scoring good marks. She wasn’t aware that children of Lankan Tamils were not eligible.
Nandhini’s father Raja, who hailed from Jaffna, reached Indian shores in 1990 along with 163 families. Since then, he had been living in Arachalur Sri Lankan camp. Nandhini is the eldest and her brother and sister are studying in class XII and X respectively.
When contacted secretary of Selection Committee of DME, Dr R G Sukumar, said there was no quota for children of Lankan Tamils for admission to medical colleges in the State. Despite scoring high marks even in trying times, such is the competition in for government seats in TN that she may be a notch below the cut off marks. “The cut off mark is above 198 this time,” said a senior official. Nandhini, however, said she is determined to study medicine.