SRINAGAR: The Government of India has provided details of the Pre-Matric scholarships granted to minority students over the past five years in a recent response to a Lok Sabha question.
According to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, the number of beneficiaries has varied across the years, with 55,68,025 students receiving scholarships in 2019-20, 52,40,000 in 2020-21, 57,42,627 in 2021-22, and a significant drop to 3,18,576 in 2022-23. For 2023-24, the scheme was not approved beyond the 2021-22 period. The data was provided by the NSP-NIC database.
Addressing a question on the continuation of Pre-Matric scholarships for students in classes one to eight, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju clarified that the government has decided to limit the scope of the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme to students in classes nine and ten, aligning it with the provisions of the Right to Education Act, 2009, which mandates free and compulsory education up to the eighth grade. The government’s decision has sparked widespread objections, but the Ministry has reaffirmed that this adjustment is part of an effort to streamline educational empowerment schemes and ensure transparency. As part of this process, the Ministry has introduced Aadhaar-based biometric authentication and the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System for disbursements under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode, aiming to prevent fraud and enhance accountability.
