Relief at last for winners of PM’s special scholarship

Lack of proper implementation and poor coordination led to many bright students from the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir losing an academic year in 2014. Winners of the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme for J-K (PMSSS), the students were to be admitted to Delhi University (DU) colleges, but were turned away by the institutes which had no information about the scheme. This year, however, in a major relief for them following HT Education’s relentless campaign for their admission, DU has directed its colleges to create two supernumerary chairs each and ensure the students are admitted.

The ball was set rolling after human resource development minister Smriti Irani assured Parliament in March this year that DU would admit the students for the academic session 2015-2016. Following that, on May 20, 2015, DU issued guidelines and schedule of admission to various under-graduate courses for the academic session 2015-2016, stating, “The Special Scholarship Scheme of the Government of India for creation of two supernumerary seats for the students of Jammu and Kashmir shall be implemented for all regular three year undergraduate courses.” Admission under this scheme shall be made directly by the colleges concerned on the basis of Provisional

Admission Slip issued by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) subject to verification of the required documents.

This means the J-K scholarship winners will be shortlisted and given provisional admission letter by the AICTE after its counselling and get admission in undergraduate courses in about 63 DU colleges.

HT Education had, in the academic session 2014-2015, highlighted the plight of students who were allotted provisional admission certificates by the AICTE for undergraduate courses in the colleges of DU and other universities of the country. Apart from DU, other universities too turned away these meritorious students from the Valley.

Mid-July counselling by AICTE

One of the reasons cited by many DU colleges for not admitting the students was that they (the students) were counselled by AICTE in the first week of August 2014 and awarded provisional admission certificates in the last week of the same month, at a time when all admissions were over and sessions had started. College authorities also said they had no knowledge of the scheme.

To overcome the problem, this year DU has not only reserved two seats per college but also extended the admission deadline to August 18.

A SCHEME THAT WENT AWRY

In 2011, the Central govt initiated a scheme to send 5,000 J&K students to other states for higher studies each year for five years. First, private colleges admitted students to get the grants and later government colleges refused to admit them

Hit

In 2014, more than 1,000 J-K students were denied admission in various colleges

Now

DU has agreed to implement it

1 Two seats in one college
2 Counselling in mid July
3 Admission till August 14

1. Story in HT: Jan 21, 2015
2. Irani’s statement: March 9
3. DU’s directive: May 20

The Special Scholarship Scheme of the Government of India for creation of two supernumerary seats for the students of Jammu and Kashmir shall be implemented for all regular three year undergraduate courses