TN college offers bikes, woos students

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Bike crazy youth now can see their dreams take shape even while they pursue their studies.

All a young person needs to do is to get four friends admitted into the college he is in, and he can ride a brand new 220 cc bike home!

There has been a decline in the number of Keralites pursuing their education in colleges in Tamil Nadu, thanks to the new self-financing colleges in the state and the admission policies.

In an attempt to stop the declining numbers, private colleges in Tamil Nadu have, over the years, offered perks to students who admit their friends into the same college.

But now an admission officer from a Tirunelveli-based, private engineering college has offered a 220 cc bike worth Rs 1 lakh to any student who admits four students into the college.

College authorities on condition of anonymity toldDeccan Chronicle that self-financing colleges across Tamil Nadu do not have sufficient students, mainly owing to the rise in the number of colleges across Kerala.

According to the director of the Kerala University centre for bioinformatics, Dr Achuthsankar S. Nair, the mushrooming of self-financing colleges in Kerala over the last five years has seen a decline in the number of students moving to the neighbouring state.

Dr Nair added that educational standards in both states were similar so parents preferred having their children in their home state.

Earlier, there was a shortage of students for the Masters courses in the state. But with sanction being given for M.Tech courses in colleges here, the outflow of students to Tamil Nadu had been on the decline, Dr Nair pointed out.

Another expert added that the state government’s decision to speed up the admission process might be a reason for colleges introducing sops to those who admit students.