Many students from the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Eligible Communities (OEC) in Kerala are being forced to pay fees in aided and government colleges and universities from their own pockets because of the delay in disbursal of e-grant scholarship to them.
These students are not required to remit admission fee, tuition fee, special fee, hostel fee, and exam fee during their study period. They are supposed to apply for the e-grants scholarship for post-matric students. The fee should be paid to the bank accounts of the educational institutions only within seven days after the scholarship amount reaches their respective bank accounts. However, there has been an inordinate delay in the release of the amount in the past three to four years. The college authorities are telling them to pay the fee on their own, and that whenever the amount comes, they shall retain it in their bank accounts.
Abhinand T. Saji, now a postgraduate student of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Kerala, says he had to remit the full fee to get the transfer certificate and other documents from an aided college in Idukki from where he did his undergraduate (UG) course. Mr. Saji points out that even if their e-grant account shows that the money has been credited, it may not have reached the bank accounts. N.R. Krishnapriya, a student of M.A. (Political Science) at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, had a similar experience from another aided college in Kottayam. She says that the e-grant amount was credited to her bank account over a year after she completed her UG course.
A functionary of the Ambedkar Progressive Students’ Association, who is pursuing her postgraduate course at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit at Kalady in Ernakulam, says she had a tough time convincing the authorities of the delay. Though the crisis is mainly affecting students from aided colleges, those in government colleges and university departments too are asked to cough up a part of the fee. Though some students are able to pay it, some others are not so fortunate. According to State government officials, the delay is largely due to the Centre not releasing its share of the scholarship scheme’s cost since 2021 when an annual income limit of ₹2.5 lakh was fixed to get the benefit.
Meanwhile, the Ambedkar Progressive Democratic Forum has demanded that criminal cases under the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, be registered against the college authorities who seek the fee. The forum is taking out a march to Raj Bhavan in Thiruvanthapuram on August 17 in support of its various demands.
Published - August 11, 2024 02:28 am IST
