Minority students to stage stir protest

Times of India: Aurangabad: Friday, 15 August 2014.

Supported by students and parents, the Jan Jagran Samiti, Aurangabad, has threatened to launch an agitation in front of the divisional commissinorate here on August14 demanding uniform, scholarships and attendance wages for minority students.

The state government had initiated a number of schemes for the minority and socially backward students to minimize their dropout ratio, of such children but stopped it abruptly four years later. after its launch.

The Samiti's Maharashtra president, Mohsin Ahmed, in a memorandum submitted to the divisional commissioner, said, "The Samiti, along with the students and parents, would register its protest on August 14 in front of the divisional commissinorate."

The state government had initiated a number of schemes from 2008 for minority and socially backward students. "But, unfortunately the schemes have been scrapped. Adding to the woes of the students, the funds that were sanctioned from 2009 to 2014 also remain unutilised," said Ahmed.

Ahmed said, "The government had allotted separate funds to provide uniforms for students and attendance wages of Rs 2 per day in order to encourage them to attend school. The scheme was initiated in 2008-09. Around 24,000 students were to be given provided with school uniforms from the Aurangabad region in 2009-10."

The minority development department provided funds to the tune of Rs 37.20 crore to the directorate of minorities and adult education, Pune, to implement the scheme. However, following a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the department informed Ahmed that since the scheme could not be implemented, the funds had to be returned to the government.

The government had released an amount of around Rs 14.69 crore for two uniforms per student for the year 2009-10 while the amount sanctioned for the year 2011-12 was around Rs 13.50 crore, Ahmed added.

He further said that for the year 2013 an amount of around Rs 18 crore had been sanctioned for about 6.25 lakh students, which remained unutilised and ultimately returned to the government by the end of the financial year.