Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Thirteen-year-old, Vijay Damar, a tribal boy from a village in Jhabua district, is enrolled in Class 8 in Sainik School, Jhansi. But since the beginning of the new session, he is not being allowed to attend classes as his fee for the past two years remains unpaid. Vijay’s father is a labourer.
Vijay was admitted to the Sainik School in the academic year 2021-22 in Class six. That year, his father somehow arranged Rs 1 lakh (of the Rs 1.62 lakh annual fee) spending his entire savings. He has not been able to pay the Rs 1.72 lakh fee for Class 7. The School is now not allowing him to attend classes till the overdue fee is cleared.
Vijay is not alone. Four more students - Ashika Verma from Shahdol, Sarthak Patidar from Ujjain, Naman Lariya from Sagar and Ayush Vishwakarma from Chhatarpur are also not being allowed to attend classes for the same reason. Sarthak and Ayush are OBCs whereas Naman and Vijay belong to SC and ST categories respectively.
The four had got admission to Sainik School, Jhansi on the basis of an All-India competitive examination. And all of them are from rural areas and from families of limited financial means.
They have demanded that they should also be given inter-state scholarships on a par with students from the state studying in Sainik School, Rewa.
Scholarship is provided to the children of reserved categories and economically weaker sections of Madhya Pradesh studying in Sainik Schools, to cover their tuition fees and other dues.
But the children from the state studying in Sainik School at Jhansi are being denied this facility. The school has reopened from July 3 but the children are not being allowed to enter the classes.
Ajay Shrivastava , father of Ashika, told Free Press that they have submitted a memorandum to the chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Priyank Kanungo, for a scholarship.
The parents have also given a memorandum in this regard to the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the MP School Education Department.
Their argument is that when financial assistance is provided to the children from the state studying in Rewa Sainik School, it should not be denied to those from the state studying in the Sainik School in other states.
The Union Defence Ministry, in 2018, had requested the state governments to extend the scholarship facilities to students from their states selected for admission to Sainik Schools in other states.
Bihar, Punjab and Chhattisgarh are among the states that have done the needful. Madhya Pradesh, however, is yet to take a decision in this regard.
Let Them Attend Classes, Writes MPCPCR To School
The Madhya Pradesh Commission for Child Rights (MPCPCR) has written a letter to the principal of the Sainik School, Jhansi on Thursday requesting him to allow the students to attend classes.
The letter said that the proposal for granting scholarships to Sainik School students in other states was being considered by the state education department.
