Pune, Maharashtra :
Only needy students will receive the benefits of educational scholarships instituted by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) henceforth after the civic administration introduces the income limit for such schemes.
Students of X and XII standards from municipal, private schools and colleges are awarded financial help for studies. The civic officials observe that ‘since scholarships (worth Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 per student) are given liberally, the funds are getting misused ‘. In some cases, students have used it to buy personnel accessories such as cellphones and tablets, they added.
“It has become tough for the administration to manage funds for this initiative,” an official of accounts department told TOI. He added that educational initiatives like ‘best of five’ and other facilities such as private classes are helping students score high marks and students across the strata are producing good results. The scholarships are given to everybody, “without checking the need or financial background.” It has ultimately led to a burden on the civic budget for the programme, which is not a mandatory responsibility of PMC.
The accounts department and the urban community development (UCD) is working on a fresh proposal. “The family income of a student, who wished to get the scholarship will be checked. It should be less than Rs 1 lakh. Even an increase in passing percentage can be made. The students will have to score minimum 85% per cent marks to qualify. The changes will be applicable for students in the open category. No changes have been proposed for students from the backward class and those who are physically handicapped,” the proposal states.
When contacted, Hanumant Nazirkar, programme officer of UCD, confirmed the development, “The talks on introducing the limits are on. But the final decision on the amount for income limit is yet to be taken. A green signal will be given after discussions with consent from all the stakeholders,” said
As of now, students who have scored above 80% in standard X and XII board exams get the scholarship. The students should either be from a PMC school, night school or have 40% disability. If the student is representing a reserved category, then even if he or she has scored 70% in the board exams, they will benefit from the scheme.
The students need to fill up the forms at the main office, Nagar Vasti scheme in the PMC main building. The scholarships have been instituted in the name of Bharat Ratna Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (for SSC) and Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe (HSC).
In addition to these two scholarships, a special scheme to give financial help to PMC students has been started. This scheme provides around Rs 51,000 to those students who have scored more than 85 per cent marks. As many as 73 meritorious students will get special scholarship for their performance in Xth standard.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Pune / TNN / January 05th, 2015