Chennai, Dec 19 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin will extend the Pudhumai Penn scheme to benefit female students of government-aided schools on December 30.

The inauguration will take place in Thoothukudi.

Initially, introduced for female college students who completed Classes VI to XII in government schools (in Tamil medium), the Pudhumai Penn scheme aimed to increase enrolment in higher education.

Responding to public demand, the DMK government decided to extend the scheme to government-aided schools, as announced in the state budget in March 2024.

Under this extended initiative, eligible students will receive a monthly scholarship of Rs 1,000. The school education department estimates that 49,600 girls enrolled in government-aided schools will benefit from this expansion.

A preliminary assessment conducted by the State Planning Commission (SPC) revealed that 13,681 additional students enrolled in colleges and diploma courses in 2022 and 2023 due to the scheme.

This represents a 6.9 per cent increase in enrollment. Among the beneficiaries, 38.6 per cent were from Scheduled Castes (SC), 34.4 per cent from Most Backward Classes (MBC), and 24.8 per cent from Backward Classes (BC).

Salem recorded the highest increase in college enrolment (8.9 per cent), followed by Chennai (5.8 per cent), Dharmapuri (5.5 per cent), Tiruvannamalai (5.2 per cent), Namakkal (4.8 per cent), and Cuddalore (4.1 per cent).

The Pudhumai Penn scheme, also known as the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Higher Education Assurance Scheme, was launched on September 5, 2022.

Its primary goal is to encourage girls from government schools to pursue higher education. Details of the Scheme Under the scheme, a financial aid of Rs 1,000 per month is directly deposited into the bank accounts of eligible girls who studied in government schools from Classes VI to XII.

The aid continues until the students complete their undergraduate, diploma, ITI, or other recognised courses.

By the end of 2023, the scheme had benefited 2,30,820 students. Salem district accounted for the highest number of beneficiaries, with 17,032 students (7.38 per cent), followed by Namakkal (13,312 or 5.77 per cent), Dharmapuri (11,915 or 5.16 per cent), Chennai (11,468 or 4.97 per cent), Tiruvannamalai (11,146 or 4.83 per cent), and Coimbatore (10,777 or 4.67 per cent).

Beneficiaries from rural areas, particularly in districts like Erode, Tiruvallur, Tenkasi, Villupuram, and Sivaganga, reaped more benefits than urban students.

Around 7,110 beneficiaries are enrolled in institutions ranked under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

Nearly 150 students surveyed were from households with a single parent or no parents. Utilisation of Aid Most students use financial aid to cover college and transport expenses, with many opting for paid courses to acquire in-demand skills.

The SPC noted that the scheme could contribute to increasing the average age of marriage in districts with higher teenage pregnancy rates.

The extension of the Pudhumai Penn scheme is expected to further enhance opportunities for female students and promote gender equity in education across Tamil Nadu.

/IANS