PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Monday said the State government must implement special schemes in northern districts and ensure the implementation of 10.5% internal reservations for Vanniyars within MBC quota after plus two results showed that of the 15 districts were placed last in terms of pass percentage, 13 were in the northern districts.
In a statement, he said two observations are particularly concerning: one, the pass percentage of government school students is very low and two, the reasons for the lower pass percentage is lack of proper infrastructure and teachers who can teach core subjects.
“As usual, district-wise pass percentages show northern district occupy the last 10 places – Ranipet, Vellore, Krishnagiri, Tiruvannamalai, Mayiladuthurai, Nagappatinam, Kancheepuram, Kallakurichi, Tirupattur. Of the districts that occupy the last five places – Tiruvallur, Cuddalore, Tiruvarur, Chengalpattu and Dharmapuri – only Tiruvarur is not a part of northern districts,” he said.
According to him, paucity of teachers, lack of infrastructure are the reasons for northern districts lagging behind in pass percentages.
“The situation is different in southern districts – there are even two or three teachers to teach core subjects. The teachers who are appointed in schools in northern districts also ensure they get transfers and move to southern districts. Two main castes living in northern districts are Vanniyars and Scheduled Castes and they cannot pay more money and get educated in private schools. The reasons for low pass percentages in northern districts are social and economical,” he said.