Protest over funds not being released for Delhi govt’s scholarship scheme

The government had tied up with 46 private institutions to facilitate the programme, but the funding is yet to be released. As a result, students said they haven’t been receiving their stipends of Rs 2,500 per month. Coaching centres, too, haven’t received fee reimbursement ever since admissions under the scheme resumed after the pandemic in 2021, their officials alleged. The government did not respond to queries regarding the delay.

A student studying at NIC Institute, who was part of the protest but did not want to be identified, said, “Ever since our classes began about a year ago, we haven’t received our stipend. None of us come from very well-off families and this would have helped with our transport expenses.”

A representative from KD Campus, Rajender Nagar, said: “The government claims they’ve provided free education to students but in reality, it’s private institutions like ours that have had to beat the brunt.”

Hoping to get answers, an 11-member delegation said it met social welfare department secretary Virendra Kumar. Speaking to The Indian Express, advocate Naresh Bhargava from NIC Institute said, “The secretary said he will revise the contract with the coaching institutions and a fresh one will be put in place… We have been told a solution will be provided in two days, after their meeting with Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, but we’re not very hopeful as this has happened in the past as well.”

Several students who have been part of the coaching classes have managed to clear entrance exams over the past few years, with over 1,000 students who cleared engineering and medical entrance exams being felicitated in October.

During the ceremony, former social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam had spoken about the success of the scheme: “I feel proud to share that around 13,000 students have enrolled in civil services, engineering, medical, police, banking, railways and several competitive exams coaching out of the targeted scope of 15,000 students. Among those 13,000 students, 4,000 took admission into medical and engineering… Out of them, 1,300 students have been selected for various medical and engineering entrance exams. This means our selection rate is over 25%.”