Minister for Education Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari today directed for taking proactive measures including sustained campaigning at school level, advance counselling of aspirants with regard to options of courses and choice of colleges to maximize admissions under Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) for J&K students.Chairing a high-level meeting to discuss and review the issues related to the ambitious scheme, the Minister asked the implementing agency All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Education Department to start the exercise well in advance and take the hunt for aspirants to remotest schools of the state.The Minister expressed satisfaction over steep fall in complaints from student beneficiaries in the backdrop of intensive measures taken by AICTE and state government to isolate the unwanted elements in the admission process. He also hailed 80 percent lateral entry of diploma holders in engineering degree courses against the 20 percent of total seats as mandated under the scheme.He further hailed the successful implementation of DBT disbursement of the scholarship adding this has greatly reduced the common complaints coming from the students.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Higher Education, AsgarSamoon, Secretary Education Farooq Ahmed Shah, Chairman AICTE, Director School Education, Jammu Ravindar Singh, Director School Education Kashmir, Officers of AICTE, Jammu, PMSS Nodal officers Kashmir and Jammu, besides other senior officers.Last year AICTE has facilitated admission of 3800 J&K students in Engineering, Nursing and Arts in various colleges of the country. Under the PMSSS, AICTE is mandated to facilitate admission of J&K students in Engineering, Medical, Arts Nursing and other courses.Stressing on the need to maximize the intake in the next session, Education Minister called for encouraging admissions in humanities and languages as well. Studying in top colleges of Delhi and other cities would help to provide potential students an opportunity to strive for civil services exams.Regarding low percentage in the filing of Medical seats under the scheme due to high merit in newly introduced National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the Minister said that he would take up the matter with the Union Health Ministry to seek a solution to this problem.The issue was also discussed in the meeting, and as per suggestions from AICTE officials, it was decided to seek 2 supernumerary seats in each medical college to accommodate atleast 100 students of the state.The meeting flagged various issues which need to be addressed for further streamlining of the implementation of scheme and prevent students from facing any hurdles.