Hyderabad: Savitribai Jyotirao Phule Fellowship for Single Girl Child

Hyderabad: The University Grants Commission (UGC) announced a new scholarship scheme for 'single girl child' to pursue doctoral programmes in social sciences. The scheme named as Savitribai Jyotirao Phule Fellowship for Single Girl Child (SJSGC), was unveiled after reviewing all the existing scholarship schemes to encourage the 'single girl child' access to higher education. It may be mentioned here that the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) stresses access to quality education for all.

Speaking to The Hans India, UGC Chairman, Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, said, "The pursuit of making higher education accessible to all involves the creation of platforms that facilitate access to education by the lesser advantaged sections of our society." The scheme aims to promote higher education for girls. It is exclusively for the single girl child desirous of pursuing a PhD programme through regular full-time mode and has taken admission to the course in a recognized higher education institution. The Savitribai Jyotirao Phule Fellowship for Single Girl Child was launched after the revision of the earlier UGC scheme for the Single Girl Child Fellowship for Research in Social Sciences, he added.

Further, the existing scheme was open for scholars pursuing research in humanities and social sciences only. In the revised scheme, "the scope has been expanded, including sciences, engineering and technology streams also." In turn, the initiative has been taken to increase the reach and benefits of the scheme. In addition, it provides an increase in the fellowship. While the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) is offered Rs. 31,000 per month, the Senior Research Fellowship is Rs. 35,000 per month. Also, there is no cap on the number of slots and there is no limit to the number of eligible applicants that can avail of the benefits under this scheme each year. This feature further enables the scheme to widen its reach and impact and meet its objectives.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), committed to the goal of ensuring greater access to education, invited applications from eligible candidates under the SJSGC in September 2022 Following its notification inviting applications under SJSGC in September last year, the UGC has received about 1,144 applications under this scheme, out of which 1,129 applications have been provisionally selected for the award of the fellowship.

The benefit of the scheme is available for women from all strata of society including candidates from the socially and economically backward sections. About 60 per cent of girl candidates selected are pursuing research in Science, Engineering, and Technology; thus, supporting the idea that such schemes should be awarded in all fields of study including Science, Humanities, and Social Sciences.