‘8.45L scholarships in 6 yrs didn’t reach minority students’

MUMBAI: As many as 8.45 lakh scholarships approved in six years for financially weaker students from religious minorities in the state did not reach the beneficiaries, information released in response to a recent Right to Information (RTI) query revealed.

The information was accessed by Razaullah Khan, the headmaster of a school in Latur and a member of the Movement for Peace Justice (MPJ). The RTI revealed that of the 37.37lakh applications approved for the Central government’s pre-matric scholarship scheme for minorities, only 28.92 lakh reached the beneficiaries.

The government used SARAL, its online platform of students’ database to track deprived students.

According to government officials, the state was unable to disburse the money towards the remaining 8.45 lakh applications, as it lost the data of some of these applicants, and has been unable to track others. Some of the students also provided wrong information about their bank accounts, due to which they did not receive the bursary. Meanwhile, the unspent amount has been returned to the Centre earlier in the year, the state told the court, in its response to a public interest litigation filed by MPJ in 2016.

“Some scholarships were not disbursed as data of some of the students is missing; some have

not provided proper details of their bank accounts and, in case of the students who have left the school, we are unable to verify their applications,” said an official from the state directorate of minority and adult education.

The school-level scholarship — a part of the Central government’s 15-point programme for minorities — was introduced to encourage parents from minority communities to send their children to school.

In its RTI response, the government said it doesn’t have any information regarding the students who couldn’t receive their scholarships in academic years 2012-13 and 2013-14.

“During these years, the scholarships were disbursed through the state’s director for secondary education. We used whatever data was made available to us,” said Dinkar Patil, director of minority and adult education.