Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Chennai: Damodaran, the orthopaedically challenged son of Rajendran, a sanitary worker in the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation, has willingly embarked on an experiment that will have a bearing on his future. A 2010 passout of the North Coimbatore Corporation School, Damodaran on Sunday opted to do what most engineering aspirants would not dare to. He joined BE civil engineering in Tamil medium at the Anna University’s constituent college in Ariyalur district.

This is the first time that Tamil medium BE degree programme is being introduced in civil and mechanical engineering branches at the university’s constituent colleges.

“I had studied in the Tamil medium. Since Tamil is my mother tongue it is good to study engineering in the same language. I find English difficult. I have the confidence that I will perform well,” Damodaran told The Times of India.

There are eight others like Damodaran. While four have enrolled in civil engineering, four others will study mechanical engineering. With such a trend being witnessed in the first week of the single window counselling for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010), higher education minister K Ponmudy is upbeat. “This indicates that there is a good response from the students for the BE Tamil medium courses,” he said.

The government has created an additional 900 seats each in the two branches in all the university’s constituent colleges for Tamil medium students.

“When my son Bhaskar Reuben opted to study BE in Tamil at the Anna University Panruti college, we had apprehensions about his future as many friends said only English medium students would have job prospects. But since the chief minister has been urging people to give importance to Tamil, he opted for the course. Who knows, this could prove to be a good opportunity for Bhaskar,” said his mother Flora Angel Mary, a teacher in Villupuram.

Now, it is over to chief minister Karunanidhi, minister Ponmudy and Anna University professors to safeguard their future.