By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Guwahati: All together 50 students from different minority communities of Muslim, Christian and Sikh have been identified by Ajmal Foundation for various coaching programmes under a scheme supported by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India.
Speaking about the first orientation camp for the shortlisted candidates coming from 15 different districts of Assam, Abdul Malik Choudhury, Convener of the programme, informed that the scheme aims to empower the minority communities, which are relatively disadvantaged in respect of skills and capabilities so that they are not deprived of the professional acumen demanded by the emerging business sectors of the country.
The first batch of 30 students out of 50 shortlisted for coaching for various competitive examinations are seen with trainers and officials of Ajmal Foundation in Guwahati on Sunday.
Out of the 50 shortlisted candidates, all of whom are class XII passed, 35 will receive coaching for admission tests to engineering and medical courses while the remaining 15 would be groomed for IAS, ACS and similar civil services examinations. This was informed by Wadood Hasan, Project Officer of the programme.
Hasan Ahmed Choudhury, Project Coordinator, addressed a counselling session in which he explained to the candidates the detailed modalities of the scheme one basic requirement for the candidates being opening of a bank account in which their scholarship amount would be deposited by the organisers.
Abdul Kadir, faculty of mathematics for the coaching programme, appealed to the students to be regular and sincere in their coaching sessions in order to perform well in their designated examinations.
Nurul Islam Laskar, Consultant, emphasised on communication skills and personality development without which, he maintained, it would be difficult to get through in the interview even if one scores high marks in the written examination.
It may be mentioned here that this programme is a new component under the scheme from 2013-14 for focussed preparation of minority students at classes XI & XII with science (physics, chemistry, biology and/or mathematics). Initially, during 2013-14, the new component of the scheme was launched on pilot basis for about 900 students @ 100 or more students per centre in nine states/UTs, viz Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Delhi. The Government plans to increase the coverage to more states and UTs in coming years as per scheme guidelines and availability of funds.