Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The third report of the Gujarat Administrative Reforms Commission (GARC), submitted to CM Bhupendra Patel on Monday, has recommended a unified portal to streamline all scholarships offered by multiple departments — Education, Tribal Welfare and Social Justice — of the state government.
Even as the report was released, the Education department had already begun to reform processes for admissions and scholarships in co-ordination with the Tribal Welfare department. While a centralised common exam was launched this academic session for admission to schools under these departments, they are working out a system to rope in the Social Justice and Empowerment department for scholarships.
Principal Secretary of the state Education department Mukesh Kumar told The Indian Express, “Initial discussions on a common portal for scholarship schemes for students has already begun. The entire scholarship process has to be streamlined since there are different guidelines for schemes under the state government.”
The GARC, headed by Hasmukh Adhia who is Principal Advisor to the Chief Minister, recommended creating the Gujarat Unified Scholarship Portal (GUSP) to enhance user experience through simplified application processes and automated status updates using a unique Child Tracking System (CTS) for student IDs.
The commission suggests streamlining the process in Gujarat to enhance transparency, prevent duplication, and ensure that all deserving students receive appropriate support. “The departmental silo approach has created a complex web of eligibility criteria (caste, income, gender, merit, and domicile), application processes, documentation requirements, and disbursement mechanisms that often overlap, contradict, or leave gaps in coverage”, the GARC notes. It cites the “success” of underlying digital identity and DBT (data build tool) frameworks in other states for scholarships — Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala.
The formation of the GARC was announced in the state’s Budget (2025-26) on February 20 this year, followed by its constitution on February 25.
With a 75 percent share from the Central government, the Tribal Development department offers pre-matric scholarship to students from Scheduled Tribes (ST) studying in Class IX and X and postmatric scholarships including post-SSC scholarship for girls, boys, SEBC students in hostels, and merit-cum-means scholarship. The Education department offers Mukhyamantri Yuva Swavalamban Yojana (MYSY) to general category students with an income criteria and a percentile cut-off.
The Social Justice and empowerment department offers pre and post matric scholarships, merit-cum-means scholarship, assistance for medical and engineering students, loan facility for students studying abroad, commercial pilot training, cycles for girls of class VIII, scholarships for MPhil and PhD,and tuition assistance for science students of Classes XI and XII among several others.
J P Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary of the state Tribal Development department, said the schemes will be aligned under a “unified procedure” to avoid “divergent processes”.
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
