TAMIL NADU EXTENDS ₹1,000 FINANCIAL AID FOR MALE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL STUDENTS

Chennai

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin announced on Friday that the DMK’s scheme of providing ₹1000 for girl students in government schools will be extended to benefit boys from classes 6 to 12.

Male students will also receive financial assistance of ₹1,000 every month, which will go into their bank accounts to support them in their pursuit of higher education. The scheme will be rolled out from August, the chief minister said.

The ambitious scheme, named Tamil Pudhalvan (meaning Tamil student), would cover more than 300,000 male students at an annual cost of ₹360 crore, a senior official of the finance department said.

In 2022, Stalin had launched the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Pudhumai Penn Scheme, popularly known as the Pudhumai Penn Scheme (meaning scheme for the modern woman). As of this year, 273,000 girl students benefit from the scheme.

The scheme had led to a 34% enrollment rate in higher education among girls, the state government had said in May. “Just like how the Pudhumai Penn Scheme has benefitted girls, I’m happy to announce that we are now extending this scheme to boy students from August onwards,” Stalin said.

The ruling DMK government plans to roll out more welfare schemes and projects in the next two years ahead of the assembly elections in 2026.

Stalin was speaking at an event in Chennai, where he felicitated 43 students who scored full marks in the Tamil paper in the class 10 and class 12 public exams for which results had been released in May.

The Tamil Nadu CM also said that he would put an end to entrance test “scams” like the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). “We will surely end this one day. It’s our responsibility. Society, financial or political situation should not be a barrier to your education. This is my aim and also that of our Dravidian model of governance,” Stalin said.

The event was conducted after the model code of conduct was lifted following the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The chief minister also felicitated the headmasters of 1,728 schools which scored 100% pass percentages in the board exams.

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2024-06-15T04:02:06Z dg43tfdfdgfd