In order to give a boost and the required stimuli to the education system in the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the consistent efforts of the central government are not only underway but are on a continuous basis as well which includes opening of new educational institutions too. In this connection, while an urge to give focussed attention to the education of their children by the parents irrespective of any barriers of class, status and affordability has been a tradition in Jammu and Kashmir including imparting education to girls, a shift from a conventional approach is needed to be made. In other words, new educational institutions should be such which are based on learning skills and professional know-how of different fields instead of traditional education resulting only in rolling out of graduates and post graduates that have very limited and vastly shrunk employment opportunities. Skill development and professional knowledge that are in great demand in the society alone could address the growing unemployment problem besides developing those institutions by themselves. Anyway, students of Jammu and Kashmir and of Ladakh cannot feel opportunities to further their studies in leading educational institutions of the country denied especially in professional mainstream, due to financial constrains which are fairly addressed by the PM’s Special Scholarship Scheme .
Needles to add, otherwise, this scholarship scheme envisages promoting and addressing issues of employment opportunities also for students of the two UTs. The other problem is that even if a student was quite promising, meritorious and with a spark, yet due to economic constraints or even an absence of an incentive to touch levels of excellence in studies, some type of monetary help was required to be provided which could result in furthering the studies at higher levels in leading private and government institutions especially professional institutions across the country. To cater to this aspect of the educational system , on account of Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme ( PMSSS) hundreds of meritorious students have been reaping benefits and noteworthy feature is that following the abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the number of applications from the eligible candidate students has increased tremendously which has an annual limit of Rs.1.30 lakh to Rs.4 lakh, the higher limit of course for obtaining engineering and medical degrees. One peculiar trend in respect of takers for these scholarships is a preference less for general education seats and more for engineering and medical seats but the beauty of the scheme is that such seats not occupied are merged on pro-rata basis for adding to the total number of professional seats , say of engineering and medical courses.
Since each scheme needs a periodic review based on receiving various inputs and feedback by the government in order to modify, widen the scope, extend the periodicity and even alter eligibility criteria and make any other necessary changes, likewise in respect of the scholarship scheme, a significant decision having been taken in this respect makes it available for additional five years to all such meritorious students fulfilling the eligibility conditions for additional five years. The scheme otherwise was slated to expire last year but it is worth noting that in the interests of the students the extension now stands granted till 2026. In other words, that denotes as many as 5000 students each year for another five years hailing from Jammu and Kashmir and UT of Ladakh who are 12th passed and Diploma Degree holders shall stand benefitted. As such to meet the expenses in respect of tuition fees, developmental and library fees, internet fees, training fees, university and examination fees including hostel , mess and books etc, the scholarship is all meant for.
In this connection, pertinent to mention as Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has rightly hoped, on account of availing of the benefits of the Special Scholarship Scheme, the youth of the Jammu and Kashmir can “dream big and realise their dreams too.” What is, however, needed to make this scholarship really more successful and extremely helpful to the selected students is a prompt, sound and responsive implementing mode which prima facia means reimbursement of instalments in time and speedily.
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