Petlawad (Madhya Pradesh): Thousands of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) students are facing severe hardship as scholarship payments worth Rs 10.70 crore remain pending for over 12,500 tribal students due to portal glitches, delayed data uploads and late allocations.
Many students, who moved away from home for higher education, say they are struggling to pay room rent and college fees after universities increased charges.
Students alleged that the scholarship applications remain stuck for two to five years. Many could not even fill out forms on time because college data was uploaded late on the portal. Applications for the 2025-26 academic session are still being processed even after the new 2026-27 semester has begun.
One of the students named Golu Bilwal said he received Rs 25,000 scholarship in his first year, but the portal now shows only Rs 9,000. The semester is over, yet we are still filling forms, he said.
Another student, Vijay Garwal, said repeated attempts to submit applications failed as the portal functioned poorly. Exams are over, but scholarship forms are still pending, he added.
Officials said 2,168 applications from SC students are still pending. Out of 851 approved applications, scholarships were released to 695 students, while dues of 26 students remain unpaid.
Students said many from poor farmer and labourer families depend entirely on scholarships for education and accommodation. Collector Dr Yogesh Tukaram Bharsat said instructions have been issued to clear pending scholarship payments at the earliest.
