While more than 50% of the students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from Bengaluru Urban district received scholarships from the State government for pursuing higher studies abroad, none from 15 districts were selected in the last two years (2019-20 and 2020-21).
A total of 94 students belonging to SC and 12 to ST communities were selected for the government’s scholarships for pursuing higher studies in U.S., U.K., and other locations abroad, Minister for Social Welfare and Backward Classes Kota Srinivas Poojary told N.A. Harris during Question Hour in the Legislative Assembly.
A total of 49 and 45 SC students were selected for scholarships during 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. Out of 94 SC students during the last two years, 53 were from Bengaluru Urban district.
No student from the category was selected from 15 districts: Ballari, Bidar, Vijayapura, Chamarajanagar, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Gadag, Haveri, Kodagu, Koppal, Mandya, Hubballi, Vijayanagar, Ramanagaram, and Kolar.
In the ST category, out of 13 students who bagged scholarships, eight were from Bengaluru Urban in the last two years. Mr. Harris of the Congress said a large number of students from Bengaluru had ended up cornering scholarships owing to lack of awareness among students in other districts and poor publicity by department.
The Minister said the State government has been providing scholarships for students from the SC and ST communities for pursuing higher studies in post graduation and research (Ph.D). students from families having annual income of less than ₹25 lakh and 55% marks in PG courses are eligible. Students who have already received admission in PG or research courses in universities are eligible for receiving scholarships if they joined universities listed by the Social Welfare Department.
He said two students had joined the London School of Economics by obtaining scholarships from the department.
Published - September 22, 2021 10:45 pm IST
