ROURKELA: The frequent delays in disbursal of monthly Pre-Matric Scholarship (PMS) seems to have become a new normal, leading to difficulties in smooth management of hostels in the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district.
Since new academic year begins from April 1, the monthly PMS fund for meeting hostel expenditure of ST and SC students from classes 1 to 10 should be placed in advance. However, in absence of the timely allocation, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development (SSD) department which runs the hostels is affected.
This year, the hostels for new academic session started running from April 1 and continued till May 5 as per the government order. After summer vacation, the hostels resumed on June 20, but the PMS fund has not yet been placed.
The School & Mass Education (SME) department has around 396 hostels with another 75 recognised hostels, while the SSD department has around 120 hostels catering to around 49,000 ST and SC students from classes 1 to 10. Recently, PMS dues of 120 hostels of SSD department were cleared.
However, remaining around 29,000 ST and SC students in SME department’s 396 hostels and 75 recognised hostels are yet to receive their PMS money for April onwards. The scenario is same across Odisha. Under the scheme, each boy student is entitled for Rs 1,050 scholarship per month, while it is Rs 1,150 for girl student.
Some school head masters complained of facing immense trouble in running the hostels in absence of PMS fund and cited one hostel with about 600 strength has accumulated external dues of around Rs 4 lakh.
The school authorities noted that they are compelled to chip in personal resources, adjusting available school funds and also resort to borrowing to meet the mess expenditures of students.
“On one hand, funds are not provided timely and on the other, any deviation in hostel management may lead to suspension or removal from service or legal action,” rued a teacher.
Recently, the PMS funds meant for about 6,000 SC students of Sundargarh for February and March was withheld. Sources in the SSD department said earlier, PMS fund was getting allocated based on the hostel strength supplied by respective schools. However, to bring in transparency, the government has sought details of students and it is taking time to streamline the process.
Sundargarh district welfare officer Bhagirathi Patel hoped the pending PMS fund would be placed shortly.
Meanwhile, about 35,000 students, mostly from ST and SC categories, in Sundargarh pursuing Plus II, degree and other higher courses have not received their scholarship for 2024-25 academic year which was meant to support their educational expenses.