In what may be early signs of change in the field of higher education for minorities, girls of minority communities have bagged almost 50 per cent of the Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme, announced by the Government in the wake of the Sachar Committee report which pointed to the huge gap in education between minority boys and girls.The merit-cum-means scholarship provides assistance to “poor and meritorious students” of minority communities — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and Buddhists — to enable them pursue professional and technical courses.The Sachar Committee, which submitted its report in 2006, relied on the 2001 census and NSSO data to point out that the graduation completion rate amongst Muslims was only 5 per cent — 12 per cent for male and 6 per cent for female in urban areas; 5 per cent for male and only 1 per cent for female in rural areas.But the first assessment of the scholarship has shown encouraging signs. In some states, especially in the South, this ratio has gone up to 65 per cent as in Karnataka and Kerala. “The result was amazing. Initially we had doubts whether we would be able to fill even the 30 per cent scholarships earmarked for girls. So we had a clause that the Government could transfer the scholarships to male students in case of non-availability of eligible female candidates. But nowhere did we have to use that option,” said a senior official.Incidentally, BJP-ruled Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have good scores in the performance list being prepared by the Ministry of Minority Affairs. Sources said these states have allotted 40-50 per cent of the scholarships to girl students from minority communities.But girls haven’t performed too well in Assam, West Bengal and Bihar though there was larger representation in these states.As per the data, most girls have sought the scholarship for pursuing professional courses, including engineering and medicine. But in the case of boys, scholarships have gone mostly to students of technical courses.“If one goes by the data, we will have many more female doctors and engineers from the minority community five years from now,” the official said.Under the scheme, initiated from June 2007, as many as 20,000 scholarships would be distributed among students of minority communities across the country based on the population-wise representation of these communities.Selection is purely on the basis of merit. The scheme stipulates that only those students who get admission to technical/professional courses on the basis of an entrance test will be eligible for the scholarships. Continuation of the scholarship in subsequent years will depend on successful completion of the course in the preceding year.The scheme is open to a student whose parent’s annual income does not exceed Rs 2.5 lakh. Maintenance assistance will be credited to the student’s account while the course fee will be paid by the state department directly to the institute concerned.The state government will call for applications every March and these will have to be submitted through the institutions concerned. Once scrutinised by the state government, these applications will be forwarded to the Ministry of Minority Affairs which will finalise the list of eligible candidates.West Bengal and Bihar: score is poor• Minority scholarship scheme launched in June, 2007• Scholarship meant for professional, technical courses • 20,000 scholarships every year• Scholarships awarded until March: 13,000• States where girls have done very well: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra • States where girls have not performed well: Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa
