Wednesday, May 30, 2018

2.8 lakh students denied post-matric scholarship, claims AAP

Times of India: Chandigarh: Wednesday, May 30, 2018.
Punjab received Rs 115 crore for post-matric scholarships during 2017-18, but only 2,165 students got the benefit while 2,88,651 were left out, AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira claimed on Tuesday. Stating that information was procured under RTI Act, Khaira said that scores of underprivileged students have been denied their rights.
“The issue has been hanging fire ever since the congress government took over,” he said. Khaira alleged that to check misuse of post-matric scholarship grant by private colleges, the state government had ordered an audit of but it was yet to be completed. On the contrary, the social welfare department released Rs 115 crore grant to the government colleges of the state. As a result of this faulty decision, managements of all private colleges decided not to allow admission to the SC students for the upcoming academic session, said Khaira.
“Although the Centre released a grant for SC students of Punjab for the past academic year, the state government miserably failed to pass on the benefit to the weaker sections students, endangering their future,” the leader of opposition in the state assembly said.
“The state government took so much time to audit the misuse of grant for the previous years. Yet it has not fix responsibility of any institution or individual even after more than a year. Many teachers’ organizations have complained to him that they are failing to discharge their duty to teach children in government schools, as they have been deputed to carry out the audit exercise for the last one year, as a result education is in suffering in government schools,” he claimed.
Khaira said chief minister Amarinder Singh should intervene so that private colleges do not deny admissions to SC students.