Chennai ,Sep 5: In an effort to increase the enrollment ratio of girl students in government schools, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Monday launched “Puduman Penn’ scheme under which Rs 1,000 will be paid per month to all girl students studying in Classes 6 to 12 till they complete their higher education. Stalin launched the innovative scheme in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Speaking on the occasion, Kejriwal termed it a revolutionary scheme and praised the Tamil Nadu government for launching it. It may be recalled that Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan, while presenting the Budget in the State Assembly on March 18, had announced that all girl students, who studied from Classes 6 to 12 in Government schools, will be paid Rs.1,000 per month directly into their bank account till the uninterrupted completion of their under graduate degree, diploma and ITI courses under the remoulded Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Marriage Assistance scheme. He said the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Marriage Assistance scheme was started in 1989 by late leader M karunanidhi to promote education and to support marriage of girls from poor families.
In line with the changing times, it is necessary to remould this scheme to promote higher education among girls belonging to the economically weaker families. Recognizing that the enrollment ratio of girl students from Government schools in higher education is very low, the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Memorial Marriage Assistance Scheme is being transformed as the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Higher Education Assurance Scheme. The students will be eligible for this in addition to other scholarships.
Through this programme, approximately 6,00,000 girl students can potentially benefit each year. For this new scheme, an amount of Rs.698 crore has been allotted in the Budget. Higher Education Minister K.Ponmudy, Social Welfare Minister P.Geetha Jeevan, HR and CE Minister P.K.Sekarbabu and School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi participated in the function held at Bharathi Women’s College at Royapuram in North Chennai.
During the event, Kejriwal unveiled 26 Schools of Excellence (SoE) and 15 Model Schools being established by the Tamil Nadu government, emulating the AAP government model in Delhi. ‘Thagaisal Palligal’ and ‘Mathiri Palligal’ are the official Tamil names for the SoE and Model Schools.
In April this year, Stalin along with Kejriwal, had visited the government schools in Delhi and lauded the infrastructure in these institutions and said his government would set up similar educational facilities in Tamil Nadu and invited Kejriwal for the inauguration.
