Govt releases scholarship from own sources pending Central grant
Verification is your responsibility as you have to ensure that your bank account is linked to your Aadhaar : Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister
Shillong, Nov 29: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Saturday released the Umbrella Post Matric Scholarship for academic year 2024-25, fulfilling a commitment made to disburse the scholarship without waiting for the Central grant in this regard.
“The government today is releasing the second and the final instalment of the Umbrella Post Matric Scholarship amounting to Rs 130 crore to about 70,000 students,” the Chief Minister said while addressing the programme held at District Auditorium, Tura.
Around a month ago, the Chief Minister said the scholarships would be released without waiting for the funds released by the Central government.
“We are releasing the scholarship to you from our own resources as we have not yet received it from the central government,” he said.
The government has maintained that the delay in release of the scholarship was due to delay in release of the Central funds.
However, he said, the state government has taken the decision to release the scholarship in advance keeping in mind the issues faced by the students.
The Chief Minister also explained the advance release of the scholarships could not be done earlier because of the prevalent system whereby advance scholarship could not be transferred to the students.
“We have been able to speak to the Government of India regarding the challenge and we have now worked out a system where we can now release the scholarship in advance,” he said.
He also stated that once the Rs 130 crore is released to Meghalaya Rural Bank, it will take a few days for processing and account verification of the students before the students finally receive the scholarship in their accounts.
“Therefore, verification is your responsibility as you have to ensure that your bank account is linked to your Aadhaar,” he said to the students.
Stating that education has been a top priority sector for the government, the Chief Minister informed of the reformative measures taken by the government to streamline the system not only for the benefit of the students but also the teachers.
“I am happy to announce today through this platform that a major reform is under way where we will be resolving the long pending issue faced by our Ad Hoc and SSA teachers and we are very close to finalising things for a solution that can be implemented from the next financial year,” he said.
Keeping in mind the large number of students participating in the programme, the Chief Minister took the opportunity to share the government’s vision for the state especially the youth and gave a detailed presentation on some of the flagship programmes.
Mentioning about schemes such as CM Elevate, YESS Meghalaya, Prime, MGMP, STAR program, Hello Meghalaya, programs in sports, music and research etc., he said, “Entrepreneurship and skilling of the youth is critical for the state’s growth story.”
He also informed that the government has planned the economic growth not only for the next two or three years but till 2047 hence a lot of reforms, policies, programs were created by the state government.
“You, the youth, will be in the driver’s seat to take us into that phase of 2047 where Meghalaya should become one of the best states in the country,” he said.
The Chief Minister also underscored the role of the youth in the vision of $10 billion economy for the state.
Terming the occasion a red letter day, Education Minister Lakhmen Rymbui said, “We will continue to live to the commitments made to our people to transform education and to make it accessible for everybody.”
Also present during the occasion were Education Minister Lakhmen Rumbui, Commissioner & Secretary (Education) Vijay Kumar Mantri, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Vibhor Aggarwal and Higher & Technical Education Director Hazel DB Sangma.
About 7,000 students joined the occasion online from 200 locations all over the state. The programme was attended largely by heads of institutions, teachers and students besides officials from the education department.
