Scholarship for minority students

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Education Minister M.A. Baby informed the Assembly on Tuesday that the government had released the funds for paying scholarship to 1,61,590 eligible children under the Centrally sponsored scholarship scheme this year.



Replying to a submission by Kutty Ahmed Kutty (IUML), Mr. Baby said the figure had been arrived at after deducting the students appearing for SSLC examinations this year. The funds had been transferred to the deputy directors of education and would be released without delay. The State government had received 629 applications from high schools run by minority communities for assistance. Of these, 517 were approved after scrutiny and those from 230 schools located in villages had been forwarded to the Centre. The assistance would be disbursed immediately on receipt of Central clearance, he said.



Mr. Baby said the government had also sanctioned Rs.6.8 crore for paying merit-cum-means scholarships to students from minority communities studying for professional and technical courses. It had, however, not acted on the applications seeking assistance for renovation of madrassas as some of the applications were not in the proper form. The applications in question had been sent back to the institutions concerned for rectification. Once the proper applications were received, they would be sent to the Centre, he said.