BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy today launched a new portal that will remove the hurdles that students face in accessing scholarships in time.
The newly developed State Scholarship Portal (SSP), which replaces the old Scholarship Management Information System (SIMS), will ensure that over 3 lakh students in schools and colleges across the state get their State funding directly in their bank account.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kumaraswamy said "We in Karnataka realise that the education system needs to be upgraded to meet the challenges of today, and to deliver better quality education to students.
As befits the most technologically advanced state, our government has created the new State Scholarship Portal.
I am confident this will ensure no deserving student or beneficiary is left behind.
" The SSP has been developed by the Department of e-Governance.
The portal has incorporated the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS) - a unique id given by the Department of Primary and Secondary education, to all school children from Class 1 to 10 at the time of admission.
The Chief Minister also said that the new portal will cover all welfare departments - namely Social Welfare, Tribal Welfare, Backward Classes Welfare, Minority Welfare, as well as the Education department.
Scholarships will be disbursed through implementation of DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), as per the Government of India norms.
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr G Parameshwara, who is also Minister for Bengaluru Development, in a message said "Every year, bright students from across this state face a hard choice: whether to continue education, or drop out for lack of support or delay in support.
It is heartening to know that with the help of our government these students will never have to face that dilemma again.
" The Deputy Chief Minister noted that the first scholarship to be disbursed will be the Pre-matric scholarship, and further programmes and schemes will be rolled out soon.
He also expressed desire that every department works pro-actively to identify and bring more deserving students and citizens into the scholarship ambit.
Minister for Social Welfare said Social Welfare Department Priyank Kharge distributed total of Rs.62736 lakhs scholarships to 16.02 lakhs students in the year 2017-18.
Out of this 11.56 lakhs students belonging to SC and 14947 students belonging to ST community.
Rs.47789 lakhs to SC and Rs, 14947 lakhs has distributed in the year 2017-18, through RTGS and the old SIMS.
"We would like to see this number go up, and more students benefit, once we fully roll out the SSP," he added.