Chennai, June 4 (IANS) In a major push to improve higher education enrolment across Tamil Nadu, the School Education Department has directed all District Collectors to establish district-level control rooms by June 5 and work towards ensuring that every eligible Class 12 student secures admission to a higher education or technical institution.

The initiative, first introduced last year, will be implemented from June to October and will cover all 5.44 lakh students who were enrolled in Class 12 during the 2025-26 academic year. These include 3.55 lakh students from government schools and 1.89 lakh students from government-aided institutions.

Principal Secretary of School Education B. Chandra Mohan, in a communication sent to district administrations, instructed that the control rooms be headed by officers of the rank of Deputy Collector and function as nodal centres for tracking students after the completion of higher secondary education.

Officials associated with the programme said the district-level teams will use data available through the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) to identify students who have not applied for higher education courses, failed to clear board examinations, missed examinations, or have not registered for supplementary examinations.

The teams will then intervene to address obstacles preventing students from continuing their studies. Each district control room will comprise around 15 members drawn from various departments, including education, revenue, police, health and social welfare.

The teams will provide counselling, guidance on admissions, assistance in obtaining required certificates, scholarship support and help in accessing financial aid schemes.

Special attention will be given to students from vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds. These include students belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, children without parental support, students with disabilities, refugees, candidates seeking admission under sports quota, students from single-parent families and those pursuing vocational streams.

To strengthen monitoring, the School Education Department will also establish a state-level control room. The central unit will track admissions across colleges and polytechnic institutions, monitor seat vacancies and provide guidance to district authorities on facilitating admissions.

As part of the initiative, district collectors have also been directed to conduct special student grievance redressal meetings once every fortnight. These sessions will focus on resolving admission-related issues and facilitating spot admissions wherever possible.

District administrations have been instructed to submit weekly progress reports to the state-level control room, enabling continuous monitoring of enrolment levels and ensuring that no eligible student is left out of higher education opportunities.

–IANS

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