Scholarship scam

Scholarship money is for students from the economically and socially weaker sections to nurture talent by enabling them to pursue studies, despite the odds. A state like Himachal Pradesh that has among the highest literacy rates in the country at over 90 per cent, and was the first to make elementary education accessible to every child, now faces a scam connected to the misappropriation of the money meant for students from the SC, ST and OBC categories. The state has numerous educational institutes of repute and it is, therefore, unfortunate that the CBI has arrested three persons in connection with a Rs 250-crore scandal that started back in 2012 when the money for the students under 36 schemes was not paid and most of the amount was given to private institutions. As many as 22 private institutes are in the dock. The CBI suspects that the income and caste certificates of the students were not genuine. The irregularity was flagged earlier, with a CAG report purportedly mentioning that scholarship money was being diverted even to the institutes not recognised by the UGC.

It is alarming that these anomalies have taken place despite there being the Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission. Such scams have been reported in Punjab, too, where private universities admitted students from Himachal at other centres, only for reports to surface that fake bank accounts had been opened using the Aadhaar details of the students. This is a problem similar to that of ‘ghost’ faculty in private institutes.

Himachal Pradesh gives priority to education, allocating as much as Rs 7,858 crore in the budget, and has an admirable student-teacher ratio. It has plans for video-conferencing facility and filtered water in schools. While the effort has been to make it an education hub, systems should be put in place to prevent malpractices. Degree equivalence committees that exist in institutions should be made accountable. Government money is considered fair game and it is the responsibility of the institutes and banks to work out a mechanism, so that only the genuinely needy get the benefit.