Officials blame it on “technical issues with the National Scholarship Portal” but are unable to explain why this has not been sorted out in three years, and why other states, including neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, have done exceedingly well in providing benefits of this scheme to SC/ST students. In fact, most Bihar SC/ST students have been denied this scholarship for six years now – and for an entirely different reason from 2016-17 to 2018-19. In Bihar alone, about 5 lakh Plus Two to post-graduate SC/ST students are eligible for scholarship under this scheme. Sanjay Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Education, told The Indian Express: “There has surely been delay in implementation of the scheme because of technical issues with the National Scholarship Portal. We have requested for a separate site and hope to get it streamlined very soon… But it will be wrong to assume or say that it has been discontinued.”A query sent to the National Scholarship Portal on the Bihar government’s claim of “technical issues” with the portal did not elicit a response.

Source: Indian Express August 09, 2021 21:33 UTC