NGOs upset over Maneka8217;s fund freeze to Dalit schools

NEW DELHI, OCT 27: Voluntary organisations working for the welfare of Dalit students are up in arms over Minister of Social Justice and E...

NEW DELHI, OCT 27: Voluntary organisations working for the welfare of Dalit students are up in arms over Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi who they accuse of stopping funds for residential primary schools for Dalit children.

According to a letter from the ministry to these organisations dated September 6, 1999, the grant-in-aid would be considered only for non-residential primary schools from October 1. It also said that no stipends would be sanctioned from April 1, and the post of supervisor in training programmes would not be considered from October 1 under the scheme.

This directive issued in the middle of the academic year will seriously affect the scheduled caste students who are residing in these schools, these organisations say.

Delegations representing the voluntary organisations running these schools in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are now in the Capital, trying to get an audience with Maneka Gandhi. They are lobbying support for their cause from scheduled caste MPs andministers. They are also planning to meet President K R Narayanan and Speaker G M C Balayogi.

quot;Where do we send the students now in the middle of the academic year? What do we tell the parents?quot; an exasperated Indudhar Honnapura of the Karnataka State Non-Government Organisations8217; Forum told The Indian Express.

In a memorandum submitted to the chairman of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission, the forum has described the ministry8217;s decision as quot;untimely and irrational.quot; This would not only bring the scheme to a grinding halt but also result in thousands of students becoming dropouts.

The organisations are also perplexed over the decision as it was only on May 26 this year that the ministry wrote to them that the grant-in-aid scheme under which each student was given Rs 300 a month would not only be continued but would also be enhanced.

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They also say that it was not their case that there were no black sheep among the voluntary organisations running the schools. quot;But why should thegood organisations and the students studying in schools run by them be penalised,quot; they ask.

But Maneka Gandhi has a different story to tell. According to her, a survey of the functioning of these schools done in the last one year had revealed that the scheduled caste children preferred to go the village primary school rather than the residential school. quot;At that young age they are too vulnerable and would not like to stay away from their parents. Residential schools don8217;t work,quot; she said.

Considering that the experience with these schools had not been happy, the ministry had decided to invest money in imparting vocational training for these students at a later stage of their schooling.

Secretary in the ministry Asha Das clarified that the grants would not be stopped in the middle of the academic year. quot;There will be no dislocation of the students who are residing in these schools,quot; she said.