Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar has urged the students from Jammu and Kashmir, who have got admission for various courses outside the state, to avail scholarship facility under the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) for which the last date has now been extended upto 3 July 2015.
The Minister said the deserving students from J&K who recently cracked joint entrance examination for admission to IITs and AIIMS Delhi or for that matter any other examination for admission to undergraduate general/technical courses outside the State should immediately apply for PMSSS.
Akhtar today personally visited SP College Srinagar which is one of the several Facilitation Centres established by J&K Government for registration for PMSSS. These centres were established in the colleges across the state and are in addition to online registration.Pertinently, under PMSSS the students are reimbursed tuition fee of Rs 30,000 per annum for general degree courses, Rs 1.25 lakh per annum for engineering courses and Rs 3.00 lakh per annum for medical studies, including Bachelor of Dental Surgery.In addition to this, hostel fees and incidentals are also given for all categories of courses at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per annum. The charges of rented accommodation are reimbursed as per certificate given by the Head of the college.
“The three boys who have cracked prestigious IIT entrance test and are unable to pay their fee, would get Rs 1 lakh tuition fee per annum in addition to Rs 1 lakh hostel fee under PMSSS, if they apply for the same within the stipulated time. Similarly, the poor boy from Tral who has cracked AIIMS entrance test can get Rs 3 lakh tuition fee per annum in addition to Rs 1 lakh hostel fee,” Akhtar said and asked these and other students to immediately enroll for PMSSS to avail the scholarship.In a related development, Akhtar today telephoned Prof (Dr) Avinash S Pant, chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) urging him to extend the last date for submission of PMSSS for JK students in view of the delayed declaration of the results for JEE-IIT, AIIMS and other entrance tests. Agreeing with the contention of Mr Akhtar the AICTE has extended the last date for submission of applications for PMSSS from 28th June to 3rd July 2015.
“We are trying our best so that as many students can avail the benefit of PMSSS and despite a strike in Srinagar today, all the Facilitation Centres in various colleges were kept open to facilitate the students,” he said and added that the Government has also done away with the role of NGOs in PMSSS as it had become a scandalous issue. He said the students should directly approach the Facilitation Centres or get registered online to avail PMSSS.During the current financial year, 5000 scholarships are to be granted to the students from J&K under PMSSS.Meanwhile, the Education Minster also visited S P Higher Secondary School to review its functioning. He called for restoration and proper maintenance of infrastructure and rejuvenating the academic process in the institution.On the occasion, the Minister also reviewed the rebuilding plan of the institution which was heavily affected during September, 2014 flood. The Minister inspected the ongoing construction work and directed authorities to submit suggestions to further upgrade the infrastructure of the institution. The Minister also assured to provide dewatering pumps to clear the water logged in the school premises.The Minister stressed for holding special teaching classes after 2.30 p.m besides introduction of musical classes at the institution.