42 lakh SC students to benefit from pre-matric scholarship

NAGPUR: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment headed by Mukul Wasnik, to introduce a new centrally sponsored scheme of Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for students belonging to Scheduled Castes in class nine and ten with effect from July 1 this year.

The scheme is expected to benefit about 42 lakh SC students. The overall literacy rate, as per 2001 census, is 64.8 per cent and for the Scheduled Caste it is 54.7 per cent.

The overall drop-out rate, for students from I-X grade is 55.8 per cent and for SC students, it is 66.6 percent.

The main objective of this scheme is to support parents of SC children for education of their wards studying in classes IX and X so that the incidence of drop-outs, especially in the transition from the elementary to the secondary stage is minimised.

The Scholarship under the scheme will be available for studies in India only and will be awarded through the government of the State/Union Territory to which the applicant belongs.

Wasnik, who was instrumental in getting this new scheme approved, has said that this is another remarkable initiative of the Central government, which will help around 42 lakhs SC students.

For being eligible under this scheme, the student should belong to Scheduled Caste and her/his Parent/Guardian's income should not exceed Rs 2 lakh per annum.

She/he should not be getting any other Centrally-funded Pre-Matric Scholarship. The beneficiary should be a regular, full time student studying in a government school or in a school recognised by governement or Central/State Board of Secondary Education.

The value of scholarship includes the following for the duration of the course: For day scholars, the scholarship will be Rs 150 per month and for hostellers it will be Rs 350 per month besides books and an adhoc grant of Rs 750 and Rs 1000 respectively, a release said.

[Courtesy: TOI, June 16, 2012]