Chennai,  The Tamil Nadu School education department will conduct counselling on October 20 for the students who are yet to join higher education courses, which include those who failed Class 12 examinations.

The counselling will be held across the state in all district collectorates.

The TN Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC), National Health Mission (NHM), and the state higher education department are part of the initiative taken by the school education department as well as the district administration.

The aim of the programme is to identify students who are yet to join any higher education course, skill development courses or courses of their choice. The department has identified the reasons why several students are yet to join higher education which include poverty at their homes, in some cases students who have not passed Class 12, lack of interest for students to join higher education or skill development programmes, and the lack of awareness on alternate courses.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu school education department told IANS that the district collectors would coordinate the programme and arrange funds through CSR initiatives.

The TNSDC will identify the students who have failed the qualifying examinations and provide them with skill-enhancing programmes, while the higher education department will help students to get spot admissions in higher educational institutions. The NHM counsellors would provide them with the necessary counselling to equip them for higher learning.

According to the officials, the department has tracked down 2,711 students who are yet to join any higher education course or skill development courses. However, during a meeting conducted by the school education department officials last month, it was identified that 8,249 students are yet to join any higher education but within a few days, 1531 students joined higher education courses while 6,718 did not opt for higher education courses.

Of these 6,718, the school education department has tracked down 2,711 students while the remaining 4,007 were not traceable. The state government has also announced the opening of school counselling centres at each school in the state.