Special drive initiated to register more students: JD

Chittoor: Joint Director of Social Welfare Vijaya Kumar said that the State government has released Rs 653.56 crore for the district towards the disbursement of post-matric scholarships for the year 2016-17. He stated that 1.54 lakh students studying in government and private educational institutions would be covered under Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme.

Speaking to the media here on Saturday, the Joint Director said that District Collector Siddarth Jain has instructed all the departments concerned to ensure wide publicity is given for the welfare schemes meant for the students. The official said 32,415 SC students; 4,280 ST students; 70,432 BC students; 35,251 EBC students and 11,904 minority students would be benefitted with the post-matric scholarships during the year.

He pointed out that certificates of 77,097 students were verified while disbursement was made to 66,358 students. He said that several government and private junior colleges are still trailing behind to submit the list of eligible students for sanctioning post-matric scholarships. Vijaya Kumar said that the government has extended the last date for submitting the list of students, who are eligible for post-matric scholarships from junior colleges.

The junior colleges can submit their lists on or before November 15. He exuded confidence that all 1.54 lakh students would get post-matric scholarships as special drive has been taken up to speed up the registration process in which all the Assistant Social Welfare Officers were instructed to visit all the junior colleges.

District BC Welfare Officer Srinivasa Rao and District Tribal Welfare Officer Eswara Rao have explained the progress of their activities.