Dharmapuri: In a bizarre development, the Government Arts and Science College in Karimangalam in Dharmapuri district has allegedly denied admission to a young mother for pursuing higher graduation.
It was a moment of acute shock for 21-year-old P. Gowthami of Kullankottai village near Karimangalam, who now has a three-month-old girl child after her marriage to one V Palanivel a little over a year ago, when the college declined her admission, purportedly on the query how she would be able to manage both her baby and her daily classes.
Gowthami got into wedlock through a marriage arranged by her parents when she was in her final year B.Com in a private college in the district. After the marriage, her husband supported her to complete her UG and also encouraged her to pursue higher studies, the distraught mother told DC.
“My parents married me off while studying in the college. My husband after the marriage asked me to continue my education,” she confided, adding, she had applied for joining M.Com course in the government college and attended the counseling session for admission on July 5.
But when she went for the counseling with her newborn baby, the interviewer in the college panel asked how she could attend college regularly when she had an infant to take care now. Gowthami was asked to even give a letter rejecting the seat offer, citing the child as a reason, but she refused.
However, sources in the college denied her charges and said that the woman was not denied admission. She was asked to reconsider her decision as leaving her breastfed baby in the custody of her relatives had became an issue, the college authorities claimed.
