Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restore the pre-matric scholarship scheme to all minority students from grades one to eight.
In a letter to PM Modi, Stalin said the Centre has abruptly withdrawn the minority scholarship provided under the pre-matric scholarship scheme to students studying in the 2022-23 academic session. This would affect all scholarships for children in grades one to eight, he said. “I want to point out that this stance goes against the principle of supporting the needy in the crucial years of their early education,” Stalin added.
Under the scheme, Rs 86.76 crore was sanctioned to 4,49,559 students from Tamil Nadu in 2021-2022. With the withdrawal of scholarship by the Union government, nearly five lakh poor minority students in Tamil Nadu would be adversely affected and deprived of the benefits of scholarship, the Chief Minister pointed out.
“Multiple surveys over the years have demonstrated that minorities, especially Muslims, are lagging in education. This scholarship supports poor, underprivileged, and highly marginalised students, including girls, to access quality education and, therefore, must be continued. I, therefore, request you to put the decision on hold and restore the pre-matric scholarship scheme to all minority students studying in one to eight standard,” the letter read.
In a letter dated November 29, 2022, the Ministry of Minority Affairs stated that the Right to Education Act made it obligatory for the government to provide free and compulsory elementary education to every child.
Only students studying in grades nine and 10 would be eligible for the pre-matric scholarship scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The Centre introduced the pre-matric scholarship scheme for minority students in 2008-09. The minority students in grades one to 10 studying in government /government aided and all recognised private institutions are eligible for this scholarship if their parent/guardian’s annual income is less than Rs 1 lakh.
With inputs from PTI
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