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Bengaluru: More than 1lakh city college students await scholarships
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The Karnataka government had initiated the ‘State Scholarship Portal (SSP) in order to disburse scholarships directly into the bank account of the beneficiaries
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government had initiated the 'State Scholarship Portal (SSP) in order to disburse scholarships directly into the bank account of the beneficiaries.
However, scholarships have been delayed for the year 2019-20. More than one lakh college students are yet to receive scholarships this year.
According to reports, since the initiative was launched, around 3,54,871 lakh students had applied for scholarships this academic year. Of them, the department had processed only 2,20,000 applications. Around 1,34 lakh applications were not processed for not submitting proper documents .
The aim of the portal was to effectively curb red-tapism and delays in students accessing scholarships. While SSP portal was replaced by System of Scholarship Management Information system (SIMS), it uses Aadhaar seeding to transfer benefits directly to students. Students who do not have Aadhaar card, the portal will offer other alternative and viable means of identification.
Due to lack of proper documents and uploading wrong information by some officials, the students have to bear the brunt. "Majority of students have not submitted required documents. The date for submission of applications was extended several times, but the students were negligent in submitting required documents forcing the government halt scholarship as they are not eligible for the same," said a senior official from the social welfare department.
The portal covers all welfare departments including social welfare, tribal welfare, backward classes welfare, minority welfare and the Education Department. Scholarships will be disbursed through direct benefit transfer as per the Government of India norms. The Department of Social Welfare was allocated Rs 363 crore for scholarships. Of this, Rs 290 crore was earmarked, but the remaining Rs 73 crore was kept in abyeance. The scholarships be disbursed once the the students submit proper documents, a official said.
"Educational institutions don't give receipts for fees paid by students. In such cases, students must upload the study certificate given by the schools to the scholarship portal. "In several cases, the government officials and some college management have misused the funds. Now, they blame students. The government should ensure that it disburses the remaining Rs 73 crore to the 1,34 lakh applicants," said Sandeep, a student.
