Cabinet approves
transformatory changes in Post Matric Scholarship for SCs
Govt big push for education for SCs. Approves Rs.59,000 Cr post matric
scholarship scheme for more than 4 Cr SC students in 5 years
Posted On: 23
DEC 2020 4:39PM by PIB Delhi
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has today approved major and transformatory changes in the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Post Matric Scholarship to students
belonging to Scheduled Castes (PMS-SC)’ to benefit more than 4 Crore SC
students in the next 5 years so that they can successfully complete their
higher education.
The Cabinet has approved a total investment
of Rs. 59,048 Cr of which Central Government would spend Rs. 35,534 Cr (60%)
and the balance would be spent by the State Govts. This replaces the
existing 'committed liability' system and brings greater involvement of the
Central Govt in this crucial scheme.
The Post Matric Scholarship
Scheme for Scheduled Castes allows students to pursue any post matric course
starting from class 11th and onwards, with the Govt meeting the
cost of education.
The Central Govt is
committed to give a big push and further impetus to this effort so that the GER
(Higher Education) of SCs would reach up to the National standards within the 5
year period.
Following are the details:
The focus of the scheme would be on enrolling
the poorest students, timely payments, comprehensive accountability, continuous
monitoring and total transparency.
- A
campaign will be launched to enroll the students, from the poorest
households passing the 10th standard, in the higher education courses
of their choice. It is estimated that 1.36 Cr such poorest students,
who are currently not continuing their education beyond 10th standards
would be brought into the higher education system in the next 5 years.
- The scheme will be run on an online platform with robust cyber
security measures that would assure transparency, accountability,
efficiency, and timely delivery of the assistance without any delays.
- The States will undertake fool-proof verification of the
eligibility, caste status, Aadhar identification and bank account details
on the online portal.
- Transfer of financial
assistance to the students under the scheme shall be on DBT mode, and preferably using the Aadhar Enabled
Payment System. Starting from 2021-22, the Central share (60%) in the
scheme would be released on DBT mode directly into the bank accounts of
the students as per fixed time schedule, after ensuring that the
concerned State Government has released their share.
- Monitoring mechanism will be further strengthened through
conduct of social audits, annual third party evaluation, and half-yearly
self-audited reports from each institution.
The Central Assistance
which was around Rs 1100 crore annually during 2017-18 to 2019-20 would
be increased more than 5 times to be around Rs 6000 core annually
during 2020-21 to 2025-26.
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DS
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