Universities refuse to admit Kashmiri students under special scholarship scheme

Many of the universities and technical institutes, mostly private ones, have refused to admit Kashmiri students under the Prime Minister's special scholarship scheme, drawing ire from the Centre.

Taking a “serious note” of such complaints, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has directed the heads of all technical institutes to ensure that students from the Jammu and Kashmir do not face any difficulty in getting admission under the scheme.

The Council has cracked the whip as the denial of admissions to Kashmiri students by many of the universities and colleges was seen as causing hindrance to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's special focus on the implementation of the scholarship scheme, according to sources.

“Such feed back reports have been viewed seriously at the AICTE and the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry. To say the least, this attitude of such colleges smacks of callous attitude towards the Government of India sponsored scheme but also towards a matter of national importance,” the council's vice chairman MP Punia said in a strongly worded letter to the technical institutes.

The Council has also written to the principal secretaries of the States, requesting them to issue “a clear advisory” to the colleges and universities under them for admission of Kashmiri students under the special scholarship scheme.

Under the Prime Minister's special scholarship scheme, the Central government offers the scholarship to 5,000 Kashmiri students to enable them to pursue higher education in professional, general and medical streams outside the Jammu and Kashmir.

Out of 5000, 250 scholarships each are marked for funding the students undergraduate programme in engineering and medical streams while the remaining 4,500 scholarships are meant for non-technical degree courses. The government has earmarked an annual budget of Rs 74.50 crore for the scheme.

After several months of exercise, the AICTE has completed short-listing of the candidates for admission to under graduate programmes under the scheme, allocated them seats at various universities and colleges through a central counselling.

“Unfortunately, number of instances have been brought to our notice not only by the candidates themselves but also from other quarters including government departments that quite a number of colleges have refused admission on flimsy grounds, such as non-awareness of the scheme, seats not being available in the college, outright refusal for unknown reasons etc,” Punia noted.

A senior official of the Council told DH that many of the institutions have refused to admit students selected under the scheme, demanding payment of hostel charges and other fees (non-academic) in advance.

“We have asked these institutions to support the students, instead of harassing them. These students will pay all the charges once they get the money in their bank accounts. It will take a months time to transfer the money to the student's accounts,” he added.