Govt doubles pre-matric scholarships for minority students

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has doubled the number of scholarships to students belonging to minority communities for FY 2012-13.

The Ministry has set a target of distributing 75 lakh pre-matric scholarships to students this year.

The last financial year, the government had distributed a total of 55,28,557 scholarships for students from class I to class X.

Notably, during 2011-12 more girl students benefitted from the government's scheme than boys. Some 51.01% scholarships went to girl students.

For distributing these scholarships, the government released an amount of Rs 615.47 crore. The Plan Budget for Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme during 2012-13 is set at Rs 900 crore.

Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme was started in 2008-09 and a cumulative total of over 1.22 crore scholarships have been awarded till March, 2012.

Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme is one of the three scholarship schemes of the Ministry of Minority Affairs included under the Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities.

In addition to pre-matric scholarships, the government also has Post-matric Scholarship Scheme provided to students for studies from class XI up to Ph.D. level.

For FY 2012-13, the government has set a target of distributing 9.5 lakh post-matric scholarships to students belonging to minority communities.

The target for the year is more than 180% of the number that was set during the last FY 2011-12. The Ministry distributed a total of 7,01,950 post-matric scholarships during 2011-12.

The Plan Budget for Post-matric Scholarship Scheme during 2012-13 is set at Rs 500 crore.