JOIN USHouse panel flags meagre SC & ST pre-matric grant
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students receiving a pre-matric scholarship is quite meagre and in a constant downfall, a Parliamentary panel has noted. The figures for post-matric scholarships are equally dismal, the panel said.
The Standing Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in its report noted that the numbers of the pre-matric scholarship, aimed at minimising the incidence of SC and ST students dropping out in the ninth and tenth standards, were dropping. The number of SC and ST beneficiaries who received pre-matric scholarships in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathans for the year 2017-18 was 10,234, in 2018-19 it was 10,195, 9,892 for the year 2019-20 and 7,436 in 2021-22, the panel said.
“The committee is quite perturbed to see that (the) number of children receiving scholarships is quite meagre. Further from the year 2017-18 to 2021-22, the figures are on a constant downfall. It appears that the Centre’s pre-matric scholarship scheme has been not tapped to its fullest thereby depriving deserving students, including SC/ST students, of a monthly monetary benefit to further their prospects in education,” the panel said.
The figures of post-matric scholarships, meant to enable such students to complete their higher education, have nosedived in comparison to pre-matric. The corresponding figures of post-matric scholarships for the years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 stood at 690, 818, 2,012, 2,121 and 852, respectively.
The ministry of social justice and empowerment, in its reply, said that the ceiling of parents’ income limit of Rs 2.5 lakh per annum is a key reason for the dwindling numbers. The parents of students in Kendriya Vidhayalas are mostly government servants, whose income inadvertently crosses the same.
Income ceiling
The panel has suggested that an “enhancement” of the income ceiling should be seriously considered by the ministry.
The pre-matric scholarships for SC and ST students per month is Rs 225 and Rs 525 for day scholars and hostellers respectively for 10 months, and in addition to that, an amount of Rs 750 and Rs 1,000 per annum is also disbursed for books and as ad hoc grant. Post-matric scholarship amounts for SC students for degree and post-graduate courses range from Rs 6,500 to Rs 13,500 and Rs 7,000 yearly.
While the panel has asked for a hike in these, the ministry has said that it is not on the cards.
“The Committee is dismayed to note that (the) proposal regarding raising the academic allowance of pre-matric and post-matric scholarship for SC students has not been considered by the Finance Ministry … that the monthly stipend being paid to ST students would not be raised till 2025- 26. The Committee is of (the) opinion that just covering the tuition fee component is not enough to ensure quality education,” the panel has said.