In Punjab SC Students may be asked to pay fees JAC

“If the pending amount under Post Matric Scholarship Scheme will not be released immediately then Colleges would ask for fees to SC students for the admissions in new session and later the Government can directly transfer the amount in the accounts of the students” said a spokesperson of Joint Action Committee. “Around 3.15 lakh SC students were enrolled in year 2015-16 and around 3.10 lakh SC students in 2016-17 under Post Matric Scholarship (PMS) Scheme”, said Dr. Anshu Kataria, Spokesman, Joint Action Committee, comprising 13 different Associations (representing over 1000 Unaided Colleges of Punjab). They urged Government to release over 440 Crore for the year 2015-16 and over 780 crore for the year 2016-17 which accounts for over 1200 Crore for SC students of Punjab under Post Matric Scholarship (PMS) scheme. They further informed that if the scholarship amount will not be released soon then few colleges which are at the verge of closure might not continue with their existing sessions and the students may have to leave their studies in between.

A meeting of 13 different associations including Dr. J.S Dhaliwal, President of Punjab Unaided Technical Institutions Association (PUTIA); Jagjit Singh, President of B.Ed Association; Dr. Anshu Kataria, President of PUCA; Ranbir Singh Dhindsa of Polytechnic Association; Charanjit Walia, President of Nursing Colleges Association;  Nirmal Singh of ETT Federation; Jasnik Singh Kakkar of B.Ed Association (Panjab University); Satwinder Singh Sandhu of B.Ed Association (GNDU); Shimanshu Gupta of ITI Association; Sukhmander Singh Chatha of Punjab Unaided Degree Colleges Association(PUDCA); Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, Academic Advisory Forum (AAF)   etc held recently for the next Action plan.

In Punjab SC Students may be asked to pay fees JAC

Kataria, Spokesman, JAC & President, PUCA further informed that that recently a delegation has met Vijay Sampla, Union Minister to request for the release of Post Matric Scholarship Scheme amount. But we came to know that, Centre is releasing just 115 Crore. State might contribute to the tune of around 45 crore as committed liability. If State would release around 160 crore in coming months it would not be enough. The colleges would get only 15-20% of total outstanding payment which is very nominal.

Now the association decided that they would approach  Chief Minister, Punjab, Captain Amrinder Singh; Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in India, Vijay Sampla; Manpreet Singh Badal, Minister of Finance, Planning & Employment Generation Punjab  and would tell the hardships being faced by the students, parents and Colleges due to the nonpayment or delay in release of Scholarship amount.

Jagjit Singh further appealed the students and parents to support the colleges and various associations to get the scholarship amount from the Government at the earliest.