114 senior govt officials to strive for 100% higher education enrolment in Coimbatore district

Coimbatore: With the aim of achieving 100% higher education enrolment among students who cleared Class XII board exam, the district administration has appointed 114 senior govt officials, including the district collector, as higher education enrolment monitoring officers for govt higher secondary schools in the district.A meeting to review the measures to ensure 100% higher education enrolment was held at the district collectorate on Saturday under the chairmanship of district collector Pavankumar G Giriyappanavar. Chief educational officer Balamurali, headmasters and senior officials from various govt departments participated in the meeting. According to an official, 11,182 students appeared for Class XII public exam in the district in the 2025-26 academic year. Of them, 10,409 students passed, while 773 students failed the exam. To improve transition into higher education, the district administration has assigned one monitoring officer each to 114 govt higher secondary schools. These officers would visit the schools, coordinate with headmasters and identify the students who are at risk of not pursuing higher studies. Special focus would be given to the students from vulnerable sections, including children with disabilities, adi dravidar and tribal students, orphans and students from single-parent families. Officials would directly meet such students and their parents to provide counselling, guidance and support for higher education admissions. Deputy collector and district monitoring officer Sangeetha has been appointed as the nodal officer for the initiative. A higher education control centre, comprising subject experts, would function from the district collectorate to coordinate the activities. The administration also announced that a district-level guidance centre would be established to assist students with higher education admissions. Students and parents could seek guidance through helpline numbers 9788858529 and 9487047568. Another official said the district had consistently improved its higher education enrolment rate over the past three academic years. The enrolment percentage increased from 83.89% in 2022-23 to 93.25% in 2023-24 and further to 98.4% in 2024-25. During the event, the collector felicitated headmasters of 13 govt higher secondary schools and seven aided schools that achieved 100% pass results in Class XII public exam in the 2025-26 academic year.