Free Essays for Competitive Exams-Higher Education for the Under Privileged

Higher Education for the Under Privileged

               There is no denying of the fact that education is the first and fundamental tool for social empowerment.  This includes education not only at primary or post-matriculate but also at higher levels. We live in a new World driven by the power of knowledge based on cutting-edge technologies.  This has made quality and specialized education, and not mere education a pre-requisite for meeting the challenges of a modern and highly competitive world.

National Overseas Scholarship Scheme

            India has been striving to propel itself among the foremost nations of the world. This is not possible without an inclusive socio-economic development.  Recognising education as an important tool of empowerment for all sections of society, more so for the upliftment of the underprivileged sections, conscious efforts have been made to bring the later at par with rest of the society.  It includes provision of opportunities to students belonging to marginalised sections for higher learning.  One of these efforts is the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes etc. run by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

            The National Overseas Scholarship Scheme for SCs etc. is a conscious effort to accord access to meritorious Scheduled Caste students to institutions of higher learning.  This scheme was started in 1954-55 for provision for financial assistance to such students for pursuing higher studies abroad in specified fields of Masters level courses, Ph.D. and post-Doctoral research programmes in engineering, science and technology.  Under the Scheme 20 scholarships are granted each year by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry. Out of them 17 scholarships are meant to students belonging to Scheduled Castes, 2 to students of Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes and one to a student coming from landless agricultural labourers family.  The purpose of the scheme is to facilitate candidates of these communities to study abroad in subjects for which facilities are not available in India.  Since these studies abroad are very expensive and beyond the means of these candidates, the scheme provides them monetary assistance. 

Eligibility Conditions

            The candidates applying for the scholarship should have first class or 60 per cent marks or equivalent grade in relevant Bachelor degree for Masters course and Masters degree for Ph.D. and post-doctoral studies with 2-5 years of research/teaching/professional experience in concerned field. 

The candidate should be below 35 years of age and his/her total income from all sources (of parents in case of dependent children) should not exceed Rs. 18,000 per month.  Moreover, only one child from same parents/guardian is eligible for scholarship and the scholarship can be availed only once.

Scholarship

            The scholarship provides for payment of full fee charged by the institutions, an annual maintenance allowance of US$ 8,200, contingency allowance of US $ 500 per annum, to and fro air fare, local travel expenses, equipment allowance, medical insurance premium, visa fee etc.  The financial assistance under the scheme is provided for 3 years each for Masters and Ph. D. courses while for Post Doctoral Research, the assistance is given for one to one-and-a-half years.

Selection Process

            A high level of transparency is maintained in the selection process.  The applications received in response to the all-India advertisement published widely in newspapers are screened and short-listed by a Screening Committee appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.  The role of the Screening Committee, which has a academician in the field of science and technology, is to establish the eligibility of each candidate as per the prescribed norms.  The short-listed applicants are then made to appear for an interview before the Selection Committee also appointed by the Ministry.  The Selection Committee assesses the suitability of the candidate for the courses applied.

            In order to ensure free and fair selection of the candidates, the Chairman of the Selection Committee, which is nominated by the Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, has always been a renowned scientist or academician in his field.  Moreover, the Selection Committee that conducts personal interviews is purely an academic body with experts drawn from various universities and institutions.  No officer of the Ministry is member of the Selection Committee.

            It has been alleged that the selection process often exceeds the one-year cycle thus putting at stake one full academic year of the applicant.   This has been alluded as one of the reasons for allegedly poor performance of the scheme.  The Ministry has now decided to complete the selection process within six months by overlapping appointment of Selection Committee while the Screening Committee scrutinizes the applications.  The selection procedure during the last two years was completed in about four months.

The selected candidates can pursue their respective studies in reputed universities/institutions in a country of their choice for which India has diplomatic relations.  The candidates, however, have to make their own efforts for seeking admissions in accredited universities/institutions in programmes and fields, which have been specified in the scheme.

Facilitation

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment organised a facilitation workshop in June 2006 in which the experts from Delhi University interacted with the awardees of the  Scheme to help them in securing admission in higher studies in reputed  universities abroad.  The workshop, first of its kind, was attended by the candidates who have been awarded scholarship for overseas studies during the last two years.   Three out of them have already gone abroad and have joined the courses of

their choice while   eight others have secured admission in reputed universities in the United States, Britain, Australia and Germany.  The remaining candidates have three years time to seek admission under the scheme but the endeavour of the Ministry is to ensure that they get admission faster.

Increasing Women Representation

            Till 2004-05 792 candidates have been selected out of which 548 candidates have actually availed the scholarship for higher studies abroad. During 1998-99 as many as 128 applications were received, 13 of them were filed by women candidates.  But only two women candidates could make it to the final selection list of 19 candidates.   In 2004-05, 82 candidates applied for the scholarship.  14 of them were women.  Four of them were recommended for grant of scholarship.  However, the number of women candidates has been small.  It could be partly because the scholarships are not available for overseas studies in agriculture, medicine and Indian studies.  There is a demand that the disciplines of study abroad should be made more broad based by including fields like medicine   as it is popular among women candidates.  The Social Justice & Empowerment Ministry has said that it is working on measures to facilitate greater representation of women in the Scheme.

The scheme is implemented with the active support of the Ministry of External Affairs and all payments are routed through our diplomatic missions abroad.  More than Rs. 30 crore was allocated for this scheme during last 20 years (1986-87 to 2005-06) out of which Rs. 27.08 crore were utilized.  Although the scheme was not implemented during 1995-96, 1997-98 and from 2001 to 2004, still Rs. 8.96 crore were allocated during that period to meet the committed demand. 

Merit, Product of Circumstances

One of the important features of the scholarship scheme is that more and more meritorious candidates belonging to the marginalised sections are coming forward to avail scholarships under the scheme.  Their brilliant academic record proves that merit is not a natural phenomenon but shaped by circumstances and there is a need to create an environment where youth belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can become meritorious, a view shared with the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Smt. Meira Kumar by many people in the country including eminent persons from the industry. Felicitating the scholarship awardees of last year, Smt. Kumar said, “I have been holding a consistent view that for the Scheduled Castes or for that matter any other person belonging to a marginalised section of the society, it is not a question of lack of talent and capability but it is simply a question of non-availability of opportunity.”

The National Overseas Scholarship Scheme for SCs etc. is a small but significant avenue to provide equity and equality to Scheduled Castes and other marginalised sections in the field of higher education in Science & Technology.  It tries to undo the wrongs done to the under-privileged and marginalised section of society who have faced centuries of deprivation and discrimination and were denied even the basic right to education, what to talk of higher education.