Kashmiri students virtually say ‘no’ to PMSSS

New Delhi, January 03, 2016 (PPI-OT): The so-called Indian Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) for students from Jammu and Kashmir now has virtually no takers. Ever since the launch of the scheme in 2011, the students have been counselled and sent to colleges which did not offer courses of their choice, revealed data by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Many youngsters have been turned away from colleges of their choice which had no information about the scheme. In some bizarre instances, the scholarship winners were allocated colleges which did not exist. Out of 3,742 Kashmiri students who were allotted various undergraduate colleges across India in the academic year 2015-16 under PMSSS, only 30 per cent students took up the offer. Also, as one semester of academic year is already over, there is hardly any likelihood of an increase in this number.

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which implements the scheme, says that out of the 3,742 students, 1,629 were allotted provisional admission letters for engineering and technology courses and 2,113 for general courses. Out of these 1,629, too, only 900 students sought admission to engineering colleges while the rest decided to stay away. As far as general courses are concerned, the response has been extremely poor as only 250 students took admission out of the 2,113 who were counselled and issued admission letters to colleges in India.

Response of the students to PMSSS was very poor too in the academic year 2014-15. Out of the 2,102 students given provisional admission letters for technical and humanities colleges in the country, only 700 (about 30%) could take up the offers. To avoid embarrassment and push up the number of admissions, the IMC had to relax the two-student-per-college-norm it had imposed in the beginning of the session in 2014, and approved scholarships for 943 more students just a few weeks ago. Colleges which violated AICTE’s norm and admitted more than 100 students were allowed to do so.

The drop in turnout has been caused because of increasing discriminatory attitude of Indian fellow students and college or university administrations towards Kashmiri students. Besides, Indian police, too, have been unfair in dealing with prejudicial cases against Kashmiri students. Many students were subjected to ruthless tortures, and some even to death by extremist Hindu students.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Phone: 92-51-4435548, 4435549
Fax: 92-51-4861736