A Tamil refugee from Sri Lanka has failed to get selected for MBBS in India despite her high score.
The application of T Nandhini (18) was rejected during medical counseling despite she scoring 197.5 in the class 12 board examination. “As per the state government norms, there is no quota for Sri Lankan Tamils in medical admissions,” said a senior official involved in the counseling.
Nadhini passed her Class 12 exam at Navarasam Matriculation Higher Secondary school in Erode district and scored 1170 marks (Tamil -187, English -192, Physics -198, Chemistry -198, Mathematics -198 and Biology -197). Her cut-off mark is 197.5 for medical counseling.
Nandhini’s father T Raja (42), a native of Jaffna had moved to India during war between LTTE and Sri Lankan army in 1990 and had settled down at the refugee camp at Arachalur in Erode district. He got married Allimalar, also from Jaffna in Sri Lanka. The couple has three children Nandhini, Priyanka and Naveen. Priyanka is a Plus Two student at government higher secondary school at Arachalur while Naveen is doing class 10 in a private school.
“I want to become a doctor and serve poor people. So, I applied for medical college seat through counseling. I did not get any communication from the medical counseling authority and came to know that my application was not accepted. I was born in Tamil Nadu and studied in Tamil Nadu. But the counseling authorities told me that I am a Sri Lankan national so they could not accept the application,” said Nandhini.
On Saturday morning, Nandhini and her father Raja visited Kilpauk Medical College in Chennai where they rejected her plea. Then she returned to Sri Lankan refugee camp at Arachalur in Erode district from Chennai.
Raja, a wall painter, said that he is the bread winner of the family and he could not spend lakhs of rupees if his daughter wished to pursue higher studies. “I am disappointed after my daughter’s application was rejected by the medical counseling authorities. I hope that the state government would give a chance to my daughter to pursue medicine,” said Raja. - TOI
