KOCHI: When it comes to Union Government’s post-matric scholarship for minority students, Kerala has fared better than other southern states. In 2017-18, as many as 55,941 students from the state have availed of the scholarship compared to 13,626 students from Andhra Pradesh, 15,465 from Telangana, 32,220 from Karnataka and 32,690 from Tamil Nadu.
As per the latest data submitted by Ministry of Minority Affairs in the Parliament, `26.68 crore was released as scholarship to Kerala in 2017-18, while it was `24.97 crore in 2016-17 and `21.04 crore in 2015-16.
The number of students benefiting from the scholarship scheme have increased from 46,703 in 2015-16 to 55,941 in 2017-18.
“It’s good that more number of students from minority communities are getting the scholarships. But a lot of eligible students are still not availing of the scholarship in Kerala. There is a lack of awareness among the students and parents on the scholarship programmes offered by the government. We need to sensitise them more about the schemes so that all eligible students avail it,” said Muslim Educational Society (MES) general secretary Professor P O J Lebba.
The post-metric minority scholarship scheme is open to Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi (Zoroastrians) students who have passed their last examination with minimum 50 per cent aggregate score.
The process for disbursement of scholarship entails inviting applications online, verification and drawing up the eligible list, which is normally completed in the third quarter of a financial year.
As per latest data
Students benefitting from the scholarship scheme have increased from 46,703 in 2015-16 to 55,941
in 2017-18