‘Toppers’ seek state recognition - Deccan Chronicle on May 19th, 2009

Plus-2 students who have not studied in a Tamil medium school or taken Tamil as a second language, but are ‘state toppers’, should at least be given a certificate by the government, several educationists in the city say.

“Our students have also taken as much effort to do well in the exams, and they should be given at least a certificate by the state government as a token of recognition,” says Ms Vasantha Balasubramaniam, principal, DAV Gill Nagar, whose students Bhoomika V and M Karthik scored 1,190 and 1,188 in the plus-2 exams this year, a little higher than Ramesh B of Tenkasi, who took Tamil as second language, and scored 1,183.

Many students opt for Hindi or Sanskrit as their parents work for the Central government and regional language would make it difficult for them to cope in case their parents get relocated, she explains.

Activist Traffic Ramaswamy is planning to file a PIL to find out why this practice is followed. “It is unfair that these students get no recognition at all, especially when they have scored higher,” he says.

However, minister for school education Thangam Thennarasu says the main intention of awarding only students who have taken Tamil is to promote the language and encourage students to take it up as a subject. “Tamil is much harder than other languages like French, which has a level of difficulty meant for class-six students,” he said.