Extension to students in govt’s free coaching plan
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government’s free coaching scheme for economically weak meritorious students, which was disrupted last March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will resume soon and students who had enrolled under the scheme last year will be given an extension, said social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Tuesday.
Under the programme, titled the “Jai Bhim Mukhyamantari Pratibha Vikas Yojya”, the Delhi government provides free coaching for 10 months to aspirants who are planning to sit for competitive exams in the country such as the civil services exam, SSC, law, engineering and medical entrance tests, and state government recruitment tests.
Around 15,000 seats have been reserved under the scheme in 46 coaching centres in Delhi for students who have passed classes 10 and 12 from the national capital and whose annual family income is less than ₹8 lakh. Earlier, the scheme was only for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) category.
The scheme was halted last March when a nationwide lockdown was announced to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, and all educational institutions and coaching centres across the country were forced to close.
While coaching centres had started providing online classes to students, the Delhi government did not allow them to do so for students enrolled under the scheme, in view of the fact that many of these students did not have access to gadgets and internet connectivity.
One year after enrolling, thousands of students are still waiting for their classes to begin.
“The social welfare department has already sent a proposal to DDMA (Delhi Disaster Management Authority) seeking permission to start in-person classes for students
The social welfare department has already sent a proposal to DDMA seeking permission to start in-person classes for enrolled students
enrolled under the scheme. The proposal is likely to be approved in the upcoming DDMA meeting,” the minister said.
“The students who had enrolled last year under the scheme will be allowed to continue. It’s unfortunate that so much of their time has gone wasted due to the pandemic but we will not let them miss the opportunity to study free of cost in premier coaching institutions. We will take in new students only on the remaining seats this year,” Gautam said.
Nikhil Sehrawat, who enrolled in a coaching centre in Shalimar Palace for preparing for the civil services exam scheduled for June 2021, said he could not prepare the entire year.
“I had attended classes between January 2020 and
March 2020 under the scheme. The classes stopped after the lockdown was announced. I had joined the coaching under the scheme leaving a job. I could not find a new job since then,” said the resident of Najafgarh.
Some students also said they had joined other courses in the meantime.
Sandeep Kumar, who completed class 12 from a government school last year, said he had enrolled in the scheme to prepare for the NEET 2021 exam.
“After waiting for over eight months for my classes to resume, I decided to take admission for BA in Delhi University’s School of Open Learning in December. I am glad to know that the government has decided to give an extension to students like me,” he said.