Jammu & Kaskmir
The Jammu and Kashmir Tribal Affairs Department (TAD) has not only notified a hike of 100-125 percent – the first since 2011-2012 — in scholarship for tribal students pursuing higher studies in Government and recognised private institutions but also increased the number of courses to more than 350, up from from existing less than 50 courses.
- Aiming a major boost to ensure quality education for tribal students, the TAD
- increased the scholarship in Group A courses from the existing Rs 30,000 per annum since 2011-12 to Rs 72,000 per annum, including Rs 12,000 allowances.
- The scholarship for Group B courses, stagnated at Rs 20,000 per annum since 2011-12, has now been enhanced to Rs 53,200/annum including Rs 8,200 as allowances.
- In Group C courses, the scholarship has been enhanced from Rs 18,000 to Rs 41,700 and in Group D courses it has been enhanced from Rs 12,000 to Rs 28,700 including allowances.
Secretary, Tribal Affairs Department, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary informed that in view of the increased cost of quality education, the revision of scholarship for Scheduled Tribe students was overdue since last more than 10 years and the Government has enhanced the scholarship amount to fund the tuition and other expenses in higher education starting Class XI to Post-Graduate courses.
Choudhary further said that in view of persistent demand of students over the years and in the wake of emerging fields of studies the department has also added more than 300 new courses covering management, soft skills, robotics, data analytics, block chain, artificial intelligence, aviation, coding and so on, to be covered under scholarship scheme.
The scholarship will now be revised every two years based on various parameters including cost of living, fee structure, expenses on books, stationery and other allied material. The scholarship will be disbursed through an online portal which is notified to be live from July 20, 2022 for fresh applications. Students have been advised to ensure accurate information of various components of scholarship is filled in through respective institutions before the cut-off date of August 31, 2022.
The Department has awarded the highest-ever scholarship of Rs 31 crore earlier this year and has also covered the backlog cases of previous years.
The scholarship for students enrolled in seasonal centres has also been enhanced and a proposal is under consideration for enhancement of pre-Matric scholarship as well. The Department has enhanced the scholarship budget to Rs 50 Cr for the financial year 2022-23.
