Over 13,000 educational institutions granted minority status

New Delhi (PTI): Over 13,000 educational institutions have been granted minority status in the country, the Minority Affairs Ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

In a written response to a query raised in the Lower House, Union minister M A Naqvi said over 26.45 lakh students from minority communities are enrolled in higher education institutes in the country. Replying to another query about the number of girls from minority communities enrolled in higher education institutes, he said out of 1.74 crore female students, 13.46 lakh belong to minority communities, which is 7.72 per cent of the total female students as per the All India Survey on Higher Education Report 2017-18.

"There are 13,555 educational institutions which have been granted minority status by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) till July 2, 2019," Naqvi said. Elaborating on the financial assistance provided to the institutions, the minister said two schemes -- Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM) and Infrastructure Development in Minority Institutions (IDMI) -- were being implemented at the national level and 16 states had benefitted under 2014-15 onwards.

It also said that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has provided financial support of Rs 85 lakh to Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) and Rs 65 lakh have been given to Maulana Azad National Urdu University for establishment of residential coaching academies for minorities, women, SC/STs during 2017-18. "There are two central universities namely Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and JMI where most of the girl students are from minority communities. During the last three years, Rs 3010 crore grant has been released to AMU and Rs 1002 crore to JMI under the head - Salary, Recurring and Capital Assets," the ministry said. The minister was also asked about the details of schemes implemented to promote higher education among girls from minority communities in the country, to which he mentioned about a specific scheme called Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students which has been active from 2010-11. "Under this scheme, financial assistance is provided to 1000 selected candidates belonging to notified minority communities, that are - Jain, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Muslim and Christian for pursuing MPhil/PhD research on full time/regular basis in institutions of India. Out of these 1000 slots, 30 per cent are earmarked exclusively for women from minority communities," he said.