Social justice argument is rather specious

The New Indian Express First Published : 06 May 2011 11:02:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 05 May 2011 11:45:02 PM IST
The Tamil Nadu government’s refusal to adhere to the new norm of the All India Council for Technical Education on minimum marks for admission to engineering courses comes as no surprise. It was just last year the government relaxed the minimum marks, fixing it at 50 per cent for general category, 45 per cent for Backward Classes, 40 per cent for Most Backward Classes and 35 per cent for SC/ST students. Though the move was made out to be another effort aimed at upholding the avowed principle of social justice, the real reason was to enable private engineering colleges fill up their seats. It is an open secret that engineering seats are sold across the counter.
The unchecked proliferation of engineering institutions in the state — 471 colleges and 23 deemed universities last year — has seen thousands of seats going unfilled in the past years. With many politicians owning colleges in the state, where running an education institution is a lucrative business for those with money and land to invest, a demand to bring down the minimum marks was raised, only to be readily accepted by the government.
Now with the AICTE suddenly cracking the whip, the government quickly responded with a firm ‘no’, only to receive support from other political parties, which have conveniently raised the bogey of a possible miscarriage of social justice. It may be true that more students from marginalised communities could pursue engineering courses if minimum marks are lowered but going by the cut-off marks in the single window scheme of those who gained admission in government institutions in the past, students with low scores gain entry only in low end private colleges, lacking in basic infrastructure.
Sure, it will help the college make money. But does that not make the social justice argument rather specious?