CHENNAI: The recent layoff by IT companies has affected the Plus-1 admission patterns too as the demand for the Biology group has doubled this year compared to last year. Many schools have fixed the cut-off marks for Biology group at 450 marks this year.
"Of 511 students in our school, 415 students have scored above 400 marks. All these students now want to join the biology group," said N.Vijayan, founder and principal of Zion Matric Higher Secondary School in Tambaram. "The Plus-1 admission is a turning point in a student's career. The recent slump in IT field has affected the decision of parents and students. The demand for the biology group has doubled this year," he said.
The medical field has a wide range of options to go ahead in, with pharmacy, biotechnology and other branches blossoming and offering mass recruitment.
"Students do not have to spend much in this field now, with many branches of biology such as Biotechnology, Ecology and Marine Biology that don't need a lot of money to be spent," said Mohan Chandar, Principal of Ram Sulochana School in Nanganallur.
The next stream in demand is Commerce. "Students who will join the commerce stream need not work under anyone and no fear of layoffs.
They can be independent auditors after finishing CA. So, many students are opting for the commerce stream," he said.
"We are witnessing a rise in a number of applications for biology group as software companies resorting to job cuts," says Shekhar S, principal of Government High School in Arumbakkam.
"Though it's a highly competitive era in every field, financial issues are no more a hindrance for studying medical. My son has opted for science group after NEET has turned as a check on exhortation of large sums of an amount that had to be paid for medical education," says Shanthi R, mother of a student.
Vocational education, an alternative choice for students
Given the unprecedented demand for Biology and Commerce streams, students also have an alternative choice - vocational stream. Many Government and Government-aided schools and some private schools offer such a vocational stream.
General Cariappa Higher Secondary School at Saligramam in the city, which has achieved 92% pass percentage in the Tamil Nadu 10th Examinations results announced today, offers vocational education after class 10.
The students at General Cariappa Higher Secondary School are children of labourers and minimum wage workers and most of them opt for this programme.
A total of 102 students appeared in this year's examinations. The girls achieved a higher success rate compared to the boys with the girls taking the top three ranks. The highest marks were 470 followed by 454 and 442. However, all is not lost for those who have failed to clear the examination. Principal P. Perumal said, "The students could opt for the Vocational Educational Programme, which is a two-year programme". He added, "The two-year programme offers training in the automobile, general machinist, draughtsman civil, Electrical machines and appliances and office secretaryship apart from typewriting and accounting".
Perumal further added that most of the average and below average students opt for the training programme, which is skill based and students from another school too can opt for this programme.
A student of the school said, "Though I have passed the exam my marks are low so I will opt for the vocational programme and they aim for ITI (Industrial Training Institute)".
