Mentioning caste is not necessary, says Minister Poyyamozhi

Tamil Nadu school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Monday asserted that caste data of the students would not be stored after admissions.

In Tamil Nadu, the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) scheme was launched last May to collect data on student attendance, caste and address. Various criticisms came up at the project. Tamil Nadu school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi met reporters in Chennai yesterday and addressed this issue.

EMIS

The purpose of this program is to publish information about a student, including the student's name, address, meal details, and attendance on a website called the Education Management Information System. Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has said that the EMIS data will be useful for launching new projects for the benefit of students.

Caste name

Speaking about students mentioning their caste name on the EMIS website, the Minister said, "Students are not obliged to state their caste. Students can boldly state that they do not want to publish their caste name anywhere. In the case of EMIS it is sufficient to state that they belong to any class including BC, MBC. The purpose of this program is to provide assistance to the underprivileged students who are enrolled. We are working towards that. "

On the issue of seeking health records of female students, the minister said health department officials usually send questionnaires to the schools to get information about the health aspects of the pupils.

He said, "The Department of Health has requested us to provide information on the health of girls. However, if the questions related to health were not relevant, it would be avoided in future”, he said adding “here-in-after feedback and suggestions would be asked from parents and teachers whether the questions could be asked or not”.