Publicise scholarship schemes, schools told

Around a month after the Delhi government’s director (education) raised concerns about the decline in the number of applications from students to avail scholarship schemes offered by the Department for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes, the Directorate of Education (DOE) has asked private schools to set up help desks and reach out to school management committees to create awareness about the schemes before March 31 — the last date to apply for the 2023-24 academic year.

The welfare department offers six scholarship schemes for underprivileged students, of which four are sponsored by the Centre and the remaining two funded by the state. The DOE had noted that the number of applications received for various welfare schemes available for SC/ST/ OBC students had dropped from 65,050 in 2021-22 to 21,893 as on February 1. In a fresh directive issued on Thursday, DOE asked all schools to proactively take measures to create awareness about the schemes. CK Dutta, joint director (planning) of DOE, in a letter to the officials, said the government has “directed to widely publicise the schemes for the academic session 2022-23 so eligible students can apply”.

DOE has asked schools to share information through class teachers and sensitise school management committee members for a wider reach among parents. DOE has also asked schools to announce the schemes in morning assembly sessions and address queries by setting up help desks. Schools have also been asked to verify applications they have already received and not wait till the last date to expedite the process.

Schools have also been asked to clear the verification of pending applications from 2017-2018 to 2021-22. “Verification of pending applications for 2017-18 to 2021-22 should be completed at the earliest so as to enable the department to process these cases further and facilitate payment of scholarship benefits to the beneficiaries,” said Dutta.