Tamil Nadu : Will a government college be started in Ulundurpet?
Tamil Nadu : People of this constituency are waiting to see if their 20-year-old demand to open a government arts and science college in Ulundurpet in Kallakurichi district will be fulfilled at least this year.
Though there are a limited number of primary, middle and high schools in the areas within the Ulundurpet constituency, there are 17 government higher secondary schools and 10 private higher secondary schools.
At least 6,000 to 7,000 students graduate from these schools every year to pursue Plus 2 and higher education. No government arts and science college has been established in this constituency, which is predominantly rural.
The Tirunavallur union under the Ulundurpet constituency has 2 private arts and science colleges, and the Ulundurpet union has 3 private colleges.
Students have to go to Government Arts and Science College located at Vridhachalam, about 25 km from Ulundurpet or Government Colleges located at Kallakurichi, about 40 km away and Rishivantiyam, about 50 km away or Government College located at Thiruvennainallur in Villupuram district, about 25 km away. It is rare for students from Kallakurichi district to get seats in the government colleges of Vridhachalam and Thiruvennainallur. The same situation is seen in Kallakurichi and Rishivantiyam.
Will the 20-year-old demand be fulfilled?: We have now formed a protest committee and are holding protests etc. demanding the establishment of a government college in Ulundurpet. However, this demand has been made continuously for the last 20 years. We have been protesting at various levels for this. The current MLA of the constituency is A.J. DMK’s Manikannan has also repeatedly insisted in the Assembly that a government arts and science college should be set up in this constituency. However, no announcement has been made for a government college yet.
We hoped that the announcement to make Ulundurpet a government college would be made during the grant request of the Higher Education Department in the recently concluded Assembly session.
But our demand has not been met. M.K. Palani, coordinator of the protest committee and district secretary of the Indian Democratic Youth Association, says that the government should announce that a government college will be opened in Ulundurpet.
