Tamil Nadu: Concerns in pre-matric scheme too

CHENNAI: An audit of the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students has flagged poor participation by schools, irregular scholarship payments and inadequate monitoring, raising concerns over eligible students being deprived of financial assistance.

According to the audit, data from the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) was compared with scholarship data maintained by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare (AD-amp;TW) Department across eight sampled districts. It found that an average of 46 per cent of schools did not avail the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SC/ST students during 2019-22.

During 2019-23, the non-coverage of potentially eligible students under the Pre-Matric Scholarship for SC students ranged between 21 and 52 per cent.

The audit also noted that no special campaigns were launched to identify the poorest households for enrolment under the scheme. Further, adequate steps were not taken by the Department or educational institutions to encourage students who had dropped out to return to school, undermining the objective of the scholarship programme.

Another major concern was the delay in opening the online scholarship portal, which subsequently resulted in delays in the sanction and disbursement of scholarships.

Scrutiny of applications in sampled institutions showed that income and community certificates were missing from 30 per cent of applications. More seriously, scholarships amounting to Rs 1.45 crore were sanctioned and disbursed to 6,861 beneficiaries whose annual parental income exceeded the prescribed ceiling of Rs 2.50 lakh.

The audit further found that Rs 19.59 crore meant for 81,586 beneficiaries was not credited to their bank accounts due to various reasons.