District Collector Reviews Pre-Matric Scholarship Implementation, Urges Full Utilization by Eligible Students

Gadwal: District Collector B.M. Santosh has called upon eligible Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Backward Class (BC) students to make full use of the pre-matric scholarships provided by the State Government. He also directed concerned officials to ensure that all eligible students apply for and benefit from the scheme.

The Collector made these remarks while chairing a review meeting on the implementation of pre-matric scholarships for school students at the Conference Hall of the Collectorate on Tuesday. Addressing the officials, he stated that SC and ST students studying from Classes V to VIII in government schools, as well as SC, ST, and BC students studying in Classes IX and X, are eligible to apply for pre-matric scholarships.

He further informed that, during the current academic year, SC and ST students studying in private schools have also been given the opportunity to apply for these scholarships. In the district, while 2,617 SC students are eligible to apply, only 1,196 have registered so far. Similarly, out of 1,819 eligible BC students, only 859 have completed registration to date.

The Collector emphasized that managements of all concerned schools should cooperate to ensure that every eligible student applies for the government scholarships. He instructed revenue officials to issue caste and income certificates required for applications on a priority basis by adopting a special action plan.

He also directed the Mandal Education Officers to conduct meetings with headmasters within their respective jurisdictions and to appoint one teacher in each school as a nodal officer. These nodal officers will be responsible for guiding and assisting students in submitting scholarship applications. Additionally, the Collector instructed officials to extend necessary support to students for opening bank or postal accounts at the earliest, as required for scholarship disbursement.

The meeting was attended by District SC Welfare Officer Nushita, BC Welfare Officer Akbar Pasha, Lead Bank Manager Srinivasa Rao, Mandal Education Officers, and other concerned officials.