CHENNAI: The Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department will provide coaching to 1,000 students in schools under its control from April 3 to 20. Under this, a centre will be created in each district and Rs 81 lakh has been allocated for it. Teachers will be hired from outside and students will be selected based on their Class 10 and 11 public examination marks.
While the department has been conducting classes on weekends for students willing to write competitive examinations like NEET and JEE since last year, this is the first time it is organising residential coaching for students. According to the department, a committee headed by Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare officer and comprising high school headmaster, superintendent, warden and female wardens as members will oversee the classes in each district. The funds for the initiative will be released from Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO).
An Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department higher secondary school in each district, which has a separate hostel for the girls and boys, will be chosen as the centre. Expert teachers for physics, chemistry, botany and zoology will be hired on a salary of Rs 15,000 each. This apart, another four regular teachers to conduct tests will be appointed for Rs 4,000 each. The department has also allocated Rs 4,000 per student as food expenses for the April and Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500 per student for applying for NEET examination.
“Last year, one student from Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department school got a medical seat. We have been providing materials including question banks required by students and conducting special classes. We felt that providing students with intensive training after the public examinations are over will help them clear the examinations. We are focussing on helping the students enter premier institutions and more than 1,100 students also wrote CLAT this year,” said a top official in the Adi Dravidar Welfare department.