The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has started the process for registration of students from Jammu and Kashmir for Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS).The online registration under PMSSS for the academic session 2018-19 for students from J&K who have qualified 10+2 examination is open from 10th April 2018 while for Lateral Entry Admission (2nd year) for students with Diploma in Engineering registration will be open from 17th April 2018. The last date for registration for students who have qualified 10+2 examination is 9th May 2018 while for Lateral Entry Admissions, the last date for registration is 16th May 2018.Students having domicile of J&K who have passed Class 12th examination from J&K State Board of School Education or CBSE affiliated schools within J&K are only eligible for registration under PMSSS. The family income of the student should be upto Rs 8 lakh per annum.The students can register online on the link: www.aicte-jk-scholarship-gov.in. The students who qualify NEET and JEE are also required to register online to become eligible for the scholarship.According to Secretary School Education, Mr Farooq A Shah, 5000 scholarships are available to JK students under PMSSS for the academic session 2018-19 including 2070 for general courses, 2830 for professional courses and 100 for medical and dental courses.Under PMSSS scholarship upto Rs 30000 per annum per students is available for general courses, upto Rs 1.25 lakh per annum per student for engineering courses and upto Rs 3 lakh per annum per student for medical/dental courses. Besides, every student is entitled upto Rs 1 lakh per annum as maintenance charges.
The students taking admission, by virtue of their own merit, in institutions like IITs, NITs, Medical Colleges, Dental Colleges and Central Universities outside J&K are also eligible for scholarship under PMSSS.While the tuition fee of the students admitted under PMSSS is being directly transferred by AICTE to the concerned colleges, the maintenance charges, including hostel fee, books and stationary and other incidentals are being transferred into the account of the concerned student under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).Around 16500 students from J&K have availed the scholarships under PMSSS since the inception of the scheme in 2012-13.Most of the students from J&K have previously secured admission in some of the reputed colleges across the country. These include Delhi College of Engineering, Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, St Stephens College Delhi, University Institute of Engineering and Technology Rohtak, Lady Shri Ram College for Women New Delhi, Birla Institute of Technology Jharkhand, Rajiv Gandhi Government Engineering College Himachal Pradesh (HP), Netaji Subash Institute of Technology, Delhi and DAV College Haryana.Pertinently, the state’s Education Department and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have fine-tuned the admission procedure under PMSSS to ensure admission of students only in the recognized and reputed colleges of the country.The role of the touts in the form of some dubious NGOs, who earlier misused the scheme and fleeced the gullible students, has been completely eliminated, and the scheme has been refurbished to make it beneficial for the students from J&K.Pertinently, J&K’s Minister for Education, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari had recently called on Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr Prakash Javadekar seeking inclusion of more courses under PMSSS and waiving off upper income limit and also covering matriculates with diplomas and Post-Graduation Courses under PMSSS.