1,000 applications pending for SC/ST/OBC scholarships, education dept pulled up

The Welfare department has found that there were 918 pending applications for reimbursement of private school tuition fees for 2021-2022. In the same year, there were 397 pending applications for the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SC and 20 for the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SC.

Written by Sukrita Baruah

With more than 1,000 applications for various scholarships to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes students left pending after the end of the 2021-2022 financial year, the SC/ST/OBC Welfare department pulled up the education department over the delay.

In a letter to the Director of Education, the Secretary of Delhi government’s Department for the Welfare of SC/ST/OBC said that a review of implementation of programmes for the socio-economic development of SCs and STs showed a large number of scholarship applications pending disposal.

The Welfare department has found that there were 918 pending applications for reimbursement of private school tuition fees for 2021-2022. In the same year, there were 397 pending applications for the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SC and 20 for the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SC.

“As 2021-22 is already over and the scholarship for the year should have been disbursed to beneficiaries much earlier, it requires urgent attention to ensure that all pending applications are verified immediately and forwarded to this department to avoid further delay in disbursement of benefits to the eligible beneficiaries,” states the letter.

Information on the implementation of these scholarships was checked by the Welfare department after it had been sought as part of the Parliamentary Committee on SC/ST examination of the “Implementation of reservation policy in States and Union Territories including socio-economic development of SC/ST”.

Following this, the DoE has written to the heads of all schools pulling them up for not completing the online verification of these applications.

Courtesy : TIE

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