Students from the State government-run schools appear to be performing poorly in the scholarship exams conducted by Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) in the recent years. The fact was clearly visible in the result of four such examinations of 2013 declared by the Council Chairman Dr Anand Bhushan on Thursday.
Out of 1959 allotted seats for National Means cum Merit Scholarship sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, only 264 students have been selected from the 24 districts in the State. For the same exam, 348 students were selected in 2012 while 547 students had cleared the exams in 2011.Similarly, for the three other scholarships namely State Merit Scholarship Exam, National Merit Scholarship Exam and State Poverty Cum Merit Scholarship Exam whose results were declared today 1950, 386, and 2184 students have been selected out of allotted seats of 2230, 392 & 2230 respectively.
However, the number of appearing students for these examinations is above one thousand.According to JAC sources, the performance of students is poor despite the fact that an awareness drive regarding benefits of these scholarships was run at every government school of the State.“Our District Education Officers (DEOs) make all efforts to promote the scholarship programmes among students comprising maximum number of Below Poverty line (BPl) students. Unfortunately, very few of them having a knack for studies are able to succeed in these examinations,” a senior JAC administrative officer, on the condition of anonymity, said.
Pakur DEO Baleshwar Sahni on selection of two out of 20 appearing students for the last held National Means cum Merit Scholarship, stressed on fulfilling the long pending posts of teachers in middle and upgraded govt schools for bringing quality in education of the students.Ranchi DEO Shiv Charan Marandi whose students have performed better than those in other 23 districts in these scholarships, stressed on the responsibility of guardians and school authorities in encouraging students to prepare for scholarships.
National Means cum Merit Scholarship is valid from class ninth to twelfth wherein students whose parent’s annual income is not more than Rs1.5 lakh receive a monthly scholarship of Rs500 per month. With a monthly stipend of Rs250 National Merit Scholarship is for students from class ninth to tenth whose parent’s annual income is not more than Rs1 lakh.
Top three position holders of class sixth can avail a stipend of Rs200 per month from class seventh onwards in State Merit Exam. Students whose parent’s salary is not more than Rs24,000 can avail State Poverty Cum Merit Scholarship Exam applicable from class eighth onwards.