By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: A delegation of Muslim Education & Career Promotion Society (MECAPS) called on Madhya Pradesh Government’s Backward Class & Minorities Welfare Department Principal Secretary and handed over to him a memorandum highlighting the difficulties that students are facing in getting benefit of scholarship schemes run by the central government.
The Principal Secretary reportedly assured the delegation led by Dr. Khalid Zafar of MECAPS to look into the matter and pass necessary directives to make it easier for the applicants to avail the benefits of the scholarships.
The memorandum pointed out that the instruction of downloading the application forms from the Internet is very cumbersome process and costly too for minorities and especially Muslims who in the face of lack of awareness and education seem to be lost in the maze of IT world. The application forms should be made available through educational institutes all over the state, the memorandum suggested.
There are instructions for the students to submit the duly filled up application forms themselves. However, it would be better that educational institutions after vetting the application forms and preparing a list of the applicants submit the same in the office of Deputy Commissioner, District Convenor Scheduled Tribe. The Central Government directives are also as such, the memorandum claimed.
The students are required to submit certificates of their being from the minority community which are not issued by any government organization. It would be in fitness of things to waive off the submission of this certificate. It should not be made compulsory as mere names distinctively indicate that the applicant belongs to minority community.
The memorandum said it must be ensured that those students who received scholarships last year should get it the following years also till the completion of the course of study without any hassles.
The memorandum complained that many educational institutions even after having received government cheques for the students’ fees are not refunding the fees they have charged for the whole year from the students. These institutions should be directed to make the refunds of the cheque amount. ([email protected])