There seems to be no end to the miseries of JK students pursuing different degrees under Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) in outside State colleges.
A group of students who are pursuing B Tech degrees in SGT Institute of Engineering and Technology Gurgaon (Haryana) said Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has denied the scholarships to them during the last year of their degrees.
“We never faced such problems during past years, but this year MHRD didn’t release our scholarships forcing college authorities to take extreme steps,” a group of students said.
The inordinate delay by MHRD in releasing the scholarships has left the students to fend for themselves.
“We met officials in MHRD but they gave a cold response to us. Besides, our state government is passing the buck,” students said, adding that they met education minister Naeem Akhtar and Political Analyst in CM office, Waheed Rehman Parra, but all in vain. “They dodged us for more than one month by giving mere verbal assurances, however nothing happened on ground.”
Students alleged that given the delay in release of the scholarships they were expelled from the college and also asked to vacate the hostels till scholarship is released from MHRD. The students added that MHRD has subjected them to mental torture. “We are suffering from psychological depression now as we were supposed to complete our degrees this year, but delay in release of funds has added to our miseries.”
“Government is making tall claims to streamline the implementation of PMSSS but by and large this scheme has turned out to be a nightmare for the students,” the students said, adding, “We appeal Chief Minister and the education minister to directly intervene into the matter and resolve the issue at an earliest.”
The students said they have become the victims for none of their fault. “Our studies are getting disturbed due to the miss communication between college authorities and MHRD over the release of our scholarship. Let government intervene into the matter,” they said.
A senior official in education minister’s office said the matter was taken up with the officials in MHRD who assured that matter will be taken with college authorities.
“We are expecting some positive developments in this and hope that students won’t suffer again,” the official said.
