In a major boost to quality education for tribal students, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has notified up to 125% enhancement in the scholarship amount for higher studies in government and recognised private institutions including universities and colleges, officials said. The move came to boost the quality of education among tribal students.

Since 2011-12, the Tribal Affairs Department notified the first ever revision of scholarship amount and also increased the number of courses covered to over 350 from existing less than 50, the official statement said.

The officials further added that the department aims to boost support to the education of tribal students, and has increased the scholarship in group-A courses from existing Rs 30,000 per annum to Rs 72,000 per annum, including Rs 12,000 allowances.

According to the officials, the scholarship for group-B courses which was stanant at Rs 20,000 per annum since 2011-12 has now been enhanced to Rs 53,200, including Rs 8200 as allowances.

In group-C courses, the scholarship has been enhanced from Rs 18,000 to Rs 41,700, and in Group-D courses from Rs 12,000 to Rs 28,700 including allowances, the official said.

Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, secretary, Tribal Affairs Department, said that the government has enhanced the scholarship amount to fund the tuition and other expenses in higher education starting class 11 and up to postgraduate courses. “The revision of scholarship for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students was overdue for more than 10 years,” he said.

He further added that in light of the persistent demand of students over the years and in wake of emerging fields of studies, the department has also added more than 300 new courses covering management, soft skills, robotics, data analytics, block chain, artificial intelligence, aviation, coding and so on, under the scholarship scheme.

“The scholarship will now be revised every two years based on various parameters including cost of living, fee structure, expenses on books, stationery and other allied material. The scholarship will be disbursed through an online portal which is notified to be live from July 20 for fresh applications and students have been advised to ensure accurate information of various components of scholarship is filled in through respective institutions before the cut off date August 31,” Choudhary said.

With inputs from PTI.

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