Mumbai: Around two years after announcing special grants for meritorious Scheduled Caste (SC) students to prepare for competitive exams like JEE and NEET, the state government is yet to begin implementing the initiative.
The scheme has been put on hold after Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI), the Pune-based autonomous state government body tasked with implementing the programme, received many more applications than it had anticipated. Due to the delay, over 2,000 aspirants approved for the educational aid were deprived of it.
The scheme was announced in 2021 by Dhananjay Munde, the then Minister for Social Justice and Special Assistance under the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Under the Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Special Grant Scheme, those scoring 90% and above in Class 10 exam are eligible to get Rs 2 lakh over two years to prepare for various entrance tests for professional courses including Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MHT-CET), National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Exam (JEE).
BARTI, which was to start providing grants from the academic year 2021-22, had received 4,066 applications from students, of which 2,379 were deemed eligible for the scholarship. However, the state government is yet to approve the expenditure incurred by the scheme. "The scheme couldn't be implemented as the number of applications was very high. We are now considering limiting the benefits to three toppers from each district of the state," said a BARTI official.
With uncertainty looming over the scheme, BARTI last year decided to launch another programme to coach SC students for JEE and NEET. Under the new scheme, 1,400 SC students will be provided free-of-cost coaching classes for JEE and NEET at seven cities in the state namely Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Amravati, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Latur. While the tenders were issued in December last year inviting coaching institutes to train the students, BARTI is yet to finalise the service provider.
"There were some issues in the tenders. Hence, we haven't opened the submitted bids. We will soon take a call on whether to proceed with the existing bids, or issue fresh tenders," said BARTI Director General Sunil Ware.
The students are upset with the delay in implementation. "The scheme was announced amid much fanfare, but has been shelved before any of the students could benefit from it. Even the new programme is also facing inordinate delays. With the Class 10 exams over, students are looking for JEE and NEET coaching. They would be forced to join private institutes unless the government starts its programme at the earliest," said Kuldeep Ambekar, President, Student Helping Hands, a Pune-based student organisation.
