Only 5 students register for MA Tamil in Dravidian University in Andhra

The number of admissions for MA Tamil at the Dravidian University in Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, has reduced drastically this year with only five students expressing interest to join.

The Dravidian University, located in AP adjoining both TN and Karnataka, has a dedicated department for Tamil since 2005. The university offers MA Tamil as a regular course apart from Ph.D, which is offered as both regular and part time.

A total of 20 seats are allotted per year for MA Tamil and the TN government is the principal funding authority for the Tamil department. However, this year, the number of admissions has reached an all-time low and professors rue that lack of awareness regarding the University as the reason.

“The Tamil department was established with the intention to attract students of Krishnagiri, Hosur, KGF and

Bengaluru, but students of these areas are still clueless about the varsity. Moreover, a lot of rumours have been spread against the University due to which students have a misconception about it. However, both the Tamil Nadu and the Andhra Pradesh governments are extending all possible support to the department,” T Vishnu Kumaran, Associate Professor, Department of Tamil, Dravidian University, told DT Next. He also said that admissions to the course were allegedly prevented in 2019 by a former Vice Chancellor but due to the efforts of former Additional Chief Secretary of AP Chellappa, the process was not hindered.

“The TN government allotted Rs 1.17 crore to the department, besides fully taking care of tuition fee, hostel fee and scholarship of students and paying the salaries of an associate professor and 2 other asst professors,” said MC Thiagarajan, Deputy Director, Tamil Development Department.