A daily wage labourer’s daughter, R Shwetha Packiyam, secured a BDS programme seat at a private college in the first phase of Medical Counselling 2020-2021 that began with allotment of seats for government school students under the 7.5 per cent horizontal quota.
Shwetha, a student of the Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School (academic year 2019-2020) in Ramakrishnapuram, scored 142 marks out of the 720 marks in NEET-2020. She never attended any coaching classes.
The state government announced that it would bear the expenses of students like Shwetha, but she was asked by the college administration to pay Rs 55,000 immediately as a material fee. Her school teacher then came to the rescue and a part of the material fee was pooled in.
“Soon after we came to know that she secured a seat in a dental college, we started pooling in money. We managed to collect around Rs 46,000. The remaining amount was paid by Swetha’s family,” The New Indian Express quoted Headmistress of the Ramakrishnapuram Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School, P Palaniammal, as saying.
“My teachers’ timely aid helped me secure this seat,” Shwetha said, thaning the State Government for deciding to bear the tuition fee of students like her.
Unable to afford a smartphone for Shwetha to attend online NEET classes, her father, a daily wage worker at a lathe workshop, bought her textbooks. When she had doubts while studying, her teachers helped her.
“I’m a first-generation graduate and the sole person to pursue medicine from my family,” Shweta said.