Contradictory GOs deny scholarship to students

Chennai:

Unreasonable restrictive state orders have denied scheduled castes from availing the full benefits of Government of India Post Matric Scholarship, which provides 100 per cent reimbursement of studies in private and self-financing institutions, according to official sources.



Sources said that though participation of dalits in arts and science courses is high, but in engineering and medical streams it has dipped due to financial inability and lack of adequate funding by supportive scholarship schemes.



Even the Government Orders (GOs) issued in providing post-matric scholarship is contradictory. While there is a GO that restricts Post Matric Scholarship scheme, it cannot be operationalised by another GO issued by the Higher Education department that has made education free for all.



Similarly, the GO by Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department is contradictory to the GO of education department which provides benefit to first generation graduates studying in self-financing institutions since the self-financing colleges is taken out of the purview of SC/ST post matric scholarship.



While states like Karnataka and Puducherry has enforced the Thorat Committee report on “Empowerment of SCs for 11th five-year plan’ by making the social welfare department or the department concerned with the development of SCs as nodal department for formulation and implementation of schemes relevant to SC and earmarking funds for it. But in Tamil Nadu, the Adi Dravidar and Tribal welfare department, which is the nodal agency for SC welfare, has no provision of Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan budget under it.



The review meeting observed that the higher education department should enable SCs to establish educational institutions, create corpuses under respective universities with their own funds enabling SCs to take up research studies besides revival of earlier orders of Adi-Dravidar and Tribal welfare department for sponsoring a minimum of 100 SC students for higher studies abroad.



Meanwhile, the development commissioner hailed the role of school education department in making a positive impact on participation of SCs. “The enrolment of SCs at all levels from 1st to 12th standard is at least two per cent higher than the General Enrolment Ratio as state has made education upto 12th standard free for all,” it was observed