Tribal welfare dept to open college hostels at four new dists

CHENNAI: To encourage more children from tribal communities to pursue higher education, the Department of Tribal Welfare is opening new hostels in Trichy, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Tirupattur districts. Currently, the department is running only two hostels in the State, one in Nilgiris and another at Chromepet in Chennai.

Speaking to DT NEXT, a Tribal Welfare official said, “As the currently functioning two hostels can accommodate only 50 students, we have increased the capacity of new hostels to 100 in each district.”

“We are also coordinating with the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department to accommodate children if the hostels under Tribal Welfare reach capacity. The students can stay in these hostels to pursue their higher education instead of resorting to dropping out due to lack of facilities,” added the official.

In the State, there are 145 college hostels, including 78 hostels for girls under the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department. Under the same department, there are 1,141 school hostels, including 403 hostels for girls in TN.

While the work for construction of hostels are underway, the department is simultaneously working on identifying students, specifically girl students in each district. The Tribal Welfare Department has been holding review meetings with all the school head masters to contact parents of recently passed out students.

The department has directed HMs to procure contact numbers of parents of passed out students along with their choice of course to study.

Speaking about conducting the review meeting on August 12, the department official added, “We are swiftly identifying the students, especially girl students to avoid child marriage. Enrolling in the college with benefits such as accommodation will encourage them to pursue higher education, ”added the official.

In the class 12 board exam held for academic year 2021-22, 320 Tribal Welfare Department schools recorded 76 pass percentage.