CHENNAI: The state has released `1.3 crore to enable 3,377 government school students to write Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) this year. As the application fee is `4,000 and many government school students are not able to afford it, the funds have been sanctioned under the Naan Mudhalvan scheme.
The funds have been released from the directorate of model schools to the chief educational officers in all the districts. This will be transferred to the schools and students will have to apply for the examination by October 25. Those writing the examination include 2,343 students from the general category, 446 of them with disabilities, and 588 students belonging to SC/ST communities.
In Tamil Nadu, the National Law University is in Tiruchy and CLAT will take place on December 3. “There is a lack of awareness about such national institutions among government school students. This is part of the effort by the government to increase the number of students aspiring to join them. This initiative will help them,” an official said.
NSS and alumni of the school will also be used to help the students applying for the exam. Previous question papers of CLAT have also been uploaded on Naan Mudhalvan's website to help the students.
NLU at Tiruchy offers five five-year integrated B.A. LL.B (Hons) and B.Com.LL.B (Hons) programmes. While there are 120 seats, 45% (54 seats) are reserved for students from Tamil Nadu. Of these 54 seats, four (7.5%) are reserved for government school students. A professor at National Law University said.”There are a total of 13 government school students — four in the first year and nine in the second year, studying at the university at present. Last year, five students got seats through the Tamil Nadu quota in addition to four who got admitted through 7.5% reservation. With this initiative, the number of government school students can increase in the coming years.”
Another professor said the university offers a mentorship programme to government school students as they initially struggle to adapt to the course being taught in English. The employability of students studying in NLUs is far better. The state also sponsors the entire fee required for government school students at the university. While the number of students writing CLAT is usually around 3,000 per year from the state, this year it is expected to rise as the government is providing applications for more than 3,000 students, he added.