Youth forced to give up MBBS course owing to lack of funds

MADURAI: Jegatheesan (19), the first person to enter an institute of higher education from his village Kongapatti situated in Ethilodu panchayat in Dindigul district, is today forced to give up his dream due to wrong guidance in obtaining educational loans.

Kongapatti is a sleepy village in this region, where most villagers are predominantly flower pickers. The boy had always been good in studies, which he pursued in the elementary school in his village. He then went on to do his middle schooling in Chinnalapatti, where he managed to score 432/500 in SSLC. Elated by the boy's performance, relatives decided to shift him to St Joseph's Higher Secondary School in Chennai. But his plus two total of 1,051, did not bring him the required cut-off for a merit admission for a backward class student in a medical college.

"I decided to try counselling for BE, when my father told me he had managed to make up Rs 7 lakh for my admission into the MBBS course. I decided to join the Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, as a self-financed student, as I was told I could get loans to complete my education," he said.

With nobody in the village having even contemplated higher education and most of his former classmates already married and settled down, Jegatheesan says they did not get any advice on how to go about obtaining educational loans, "We decided to cross the bridges when the time came," he said.

Being studious, he was able to clear the first semester of his MBBS course with 67% marks. His father, N Raja, did not hesitate to sell his two ancestral homes to pay the Rs 7 lakh towards the second year fees. "I just wanted my son to set an example for the other youngsters from our village," he said.

But on August 8 this year, Jegatheesan was sent out of college, without being allowed to sit for his second semester exams, as they had not been able to muster another Rs 7 lakh towards third year fees. When they approached Canara Bank in Vilampatti, they were told that Jegatheesan was not eligible for an educational loan as he had not obtained the seat through counselling. Rs 15 lakh is what has been spent on his education so far. It is a pity the Tamil Nadu government's first graduate scheme, with 100% funding for higher education, does not apply for MBBS, says Jegatheesan, who wants to serve his villagers.

"My family, which owned two houses, is now living in a rented house, with my father going back to fulltime flower vending, he said. His father, who has been going from pillar to post, says he has come to know that the maximum limit for an educational loan is Rs 7 lakh and says that even that amount would be of great help now. "If I am able to help him get through this year, I will ensure he completes the rest because I believe in my physical capacity to earn by hardwork," he said. College sources said that Jegatheesan was a good student, but there was nothing much they could do to help him.