The Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising 13 different unaided colleges’ associations in the state, has requested the Punjab Government not to consider the drop-out students’ cases as the fraud in the post-matric scholarship scheme.
Punjab Unaided College Association (PUCA) president Anshu Kataria said that over three lakh SC students are studying under post-matric scholarship scheme in Punjab. “In many cases, students leave their studies in between due to their marriage, abroad program or any other personal problem. This dropping rate is significantly higher in Punjab. So, the dropout rate should not be considered as any scam done by the colleges,” he requested.
Kataria added that PUCA does not have any objection if the government takes strict action against those institutions who have claimed scholarships for fake students.
Punjab Unaided Technical Institutions’ Association (PUTIA) presient Dr JS Dhaliwal said that due to non-payment of scholarship funds for last two years, the colleges are facing huge financial crisis and deciding not to grant admissions to SC students from the next year.
Dhaliwal added that if there would be further delay in scholarship, the colleges would face difficulty in continuing education and they would be forced to charge fees from SC students from next year.
BEd Federation president Jagjit Singh said that for the last four or five months, many of the private unaided colleges have failed to pay salaries to the staff. “If government does not release scholarship money immediately to the colleges, it will be difficult to take semester examinations in March- April,” he said. The Committee also stressed that the Punjab Government should immediately send utilization certificate of Rs 115 crore to the Centre.
and demand for the release of balance Rs 1200 crore of scholarship funds so that SC students can further continue their studies.