448 govt school students in Tamil Nadu shine in JEE (main) exam

Chennai: S Praveen, a Tamil-medium student and state topper among govt school students, scored 99.5 percentile in the JEE (main) paper 1. Two other students, A Velmurugan and R Naresh, scored 99.5 and 99.42 percentile, respectively, becoming top scorers in the state.

These three, who hailed from humble backgrounds, received residential coaching at the Centre of Academic Excellence (COAE), a model school in the city. While Praveen finished Class XII, scoring 588 in 2025, Naresh and Velmurugan are preparing to appear for the board exams this year.

Data provided by school education department revealed that 448 students of TN govt schools scored more than 79 percentile in the first session of the JEE (main) exam. Last year, the cut-off per cent to qualify in JEE was 79 percentile.

Of the 448 students, 218 were model school students. The National Testing Agency (NTA) recently released the results of the first session of the JEE (main) exam conducted from Jan 21 to 28.

Another highlight is that 154 of the 448 students received training under the Vibrant Education Targeted Reputed Institutions (Vetri) schools initiative, launched in line with the state education policy.

Under the initiative, high-performing govt higher secondary schools were identified per block and provided facilities on a par with model schools.

Weekend classes are held at these schools for interested students for competitive exams such as JEE, CLAT, and NEET. "This is a huge achievement because it is hardly one year since Vetri schools were launched. Apart from Vetri school students, 76 students who studied in govt higher secondary schools also got high scores in JEE," school education secretary B Chandra Mohan said. COAE headmaster Senthilvalavan said the intensive training paid off.

"Students are offered after-school training from 3pm to 7pm, and full day classes on weekends," he added.