ROURKELA: Pre-Matric Scholarship (PMS), meant for SC and ST high school students in Sundargarh district is being spent on their personal needs instead of education. This came as a revelation during an audit by the office of the Auditor General.
As many as 30 government schools in the district have been randomly selected for the audit which is being conducted since August 1 by a team comprising senior audit officer BK Behera, assistant audit officer PK Swain and others.
The ST and SC Development department sources said during an audit, several students who are being given PMS said the money is being spent by their parents for personal use. The scheme is meant to help SC and ST students avail of extra tuition, and procure educational materials and books.
A few ST students said their parents use the money for repairing house or buying goats. The PMS is credited to the student's bank accounts through direct benefit transfer mode.
Under the centrally-sponsored PMS scheme, day scholars of Class IX and X from the ST category are entitled to get Rs 3,000 annually. Similarly, ST hostel inmates are given Rs 6,250 per year. In the case of SC day scholars and hostel inmates, the amount is Rs 3,500 and Rs 7,000 respectively.
The district has around 30,000 SC and ST students in Class IX and X. Almost half of them stay at hostels and barring an insignificant number, the majority of the beneficiaries have their own bank accounts. Still, their parents continue to be the custodians of the PMS amount. Around 5-10 per cent of such bank accounts report failed transactions due to dormant account status.