Withheld scholarships: Students to agitate from Friday

The Scheduled Tribes students studying outside Nagaland in various colleges and universities have scheduled a sit-in protest rally from July 22, to appeal to the state government of Nagaland to bail out students affected by the government failing to release their full scholarship.

The rally is being organized through the Education Initiative Committee of the Eastern Naga Students’ Union of Dimapur (ENSUD).

Even after appealing to the Nagaland government through representations, there had been no positive response from the state so far. The pressure from the students’ colleges to clear their fees–most of the students coming from financially poor families–they have been left with no option but to seek the attention of the Nagaland government through the demonstration, the worried students said.   

The sit-in rally will start at 11 am today (22 July) at the Secretariat Plaza in Kohima town with around 150 affected students from various districts taking part in the event.

It may be noted that the students studying in various colleges and universities in India, through the ENSUD’s Education Initiative Committee, have not received their full scholarship under the Post-Matriculation Scholarship Scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India for the year 2015-2016.

In December 2015, the nation’s media had reported that about 150 Naga students had had to leave their studies midway because their scholarship money did not arrive. They then stayed at a guest house in Ghaziabad and tried to work out a solution. Some students were taken back by Modinagar's DJ College of engineering but some were dejected and went back to Dimapur.

71 students shifted to Mewar University in Rajasthan on the assurance that their tuition fees here would be paid here by the Nagaland government. While students have shifted on this assurance, they remain skeptical about their futures.

Deepankar Sharma, the director of DJ College of Engineering and Technology, told TOI,

"The total strength of the college is 800 and around 150 students are Scheduled Tribe students from Nagaland. The students came here on a scholarship program, under which the Nagaland government was supposed to pay their entire tuition fees, which is Rs 1 lakh.

The students had to only pay Rs 60,000 as hostel fees. They had been paying their hostel fees in installments but they have not paid any tuition fees since the last academic session started in July 2014. Two semesters of the last academic session and one from this session have passed but we let the students stay. The scholarship amount has not come to this day."

On November 29, the dejected students had to leave the college in the middle of their studies, a Times of India report had stated.

Center already released scholarship money in Feb 

On July 18, it emerged that scholarships meant for a section of Scheduled Tribe students in Nagaland had already been released, as far as February but it was the Nagaland government that was reportedly not releasing the funds.

On said date, students seeking admission to various colleges and universities in India had met with ENSUD leaders at the Dimapur town hall. The students were accompanied by their parents.

ENSUD officials said that on July 6, 2016 they had submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister TR Zeliang demanding release of the full post-matriculation scholarship for the year 2014-2016. They has also requested the chief minister to respond on or before July 9, 2016.

However, the student leaders said, even after the chief minister’s assurance to reply within ten days, there was no response from the state government.

They mentioned that the Scheduled Tribe students from Nagaland have not received the full amount whereas Scheduled Tribe students from other states in the same colleges and universities had already received their full scholarship.

Student representative from Mewar University T Thomas Konyak said during a meeting with the officials of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the officials had held the Nagaland government responsible for not showing interest to the matter unlike the other states. It was remarked during the meeting that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs was willing to assist if the state government shows interest, the students’ representative stated. 

During the Town Hall meeting, the students’ leaders handed out a document stating the release of central assistance to the state government of Nagaland, in full and final installment of projected expenditure for the year 2015-16 (scheme of Post Matric Scholarship to ST students) by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs GOI.

In it was stated that an amount of Rs.26, 46, 34,161 was released to the state government of Nagaland. In fact, the funds were actually released several months ago–on February 4, 2016.

The members of the meeting have questioned why the state government of Nagaland was taking time to release the scholarship when four months had already passed by.

They also questioned the State Level Committee set up to look into the current issue which has, as is usual with government committees and commissions, not come up with any report or response.

More than 300 students had affected by this imbroglio, it was informed.   With no concrete response from the state, the students concluded that they were likely to agitate against the Nagaland government.  

(Al Ngullie, July 21, 2016; Eastern Mirror) 

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