Enrollment under Naan Mudhalvan scheme highest in TN western districts; 348 colleges registered so far

CHENNAI: The western districts of Tamil Nadu are at the top of the list with more than 96,000 engineering students enrolled in the Naan Mudhalvan scheme this year.

The western districts include Krishnagiri, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Erode, Namakkal, Salem, the Nilgiris and Tirupur.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department told DT Next that a total of 96,422 students from western districts have enrolled in the Naan Mudhalvan scheme.

"The reason for more students joining the scheme was because of the awareness created in the colleges even among the faculty members," he added.

He said that the Naan Mudhalvan scheme has introduced as many as 29 courses in the odd semester partnering with 21 industrial training partners and in the even semester 30 courses have been introduced partnering with 17 industrial training partners.

The official said in the Chennai region, comprising Chengalpattu, Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, more than 70,991 students have registered under the programme.

Similarly, he said a total of 63,150 students from the southern region in Kanniyakumari, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Tenkasi, Theni, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Virudhunagar have enrolled.

According to the official, central districts Ariyalur, Dindigul, Karur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Tiruchirappalli, 59,680 students have registered in the Naan Mudhalvan scheme.

"Likewise, a total of 32,757 students from northern districts such as Kallakurichi, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Villupuram, Cuddalore have joined the scheme," he said "Altogether 3.23 lakh students have registered".

Stating that so far 348 engineering colleges have registered for the Naan Mudhalvan scheme, the official said that during the next academic year, the student's registration under the Naan Mudhalvan scheme is expected to be increased by more than 10 per cent.

With regard to the placement in the engineering colleges, he said it has been a success, with 76.4 per cent of engineering students, who have registered, getting jobs this year.

He said that during the next academic year, new skill-based courses will also be introduced for the engineering students under the scheme according to the latest requirements of the industries.

Pointing out that a total of 459 polytechnic colleges are in the programme, he said, "From these colleges about 1.92 diploma students have registered under the scheme."