Manish Sisodia gives checks for Rs 48.14 crore to 6,820 students pursuing higher education

To ensure that no student is deprived of higher education due to financial constraints, the Directorate of Higher Education has formulated the Merit and Means Associated Financial Assistance Program of the Delhi Higher Education Assistance Fund to provide access to quality higher education.

New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia issued checks worth Rs 48.14 crore to 6,820 students pursuing their higher education under the Delhi government’s “Merit-cum-Means” financial assistance program on Monday. More than 13,000 students have received benefits amounting to 87 million rupees under the scheme in the past three years.

To ensure that no student is deprived of higher education due to financial constraints, the Directorate of Higher Education has drafted the “Means and Merit Linked Financial Assistance Program” of the Delhi Higher Education Assistance Fund in the 2017-18 academic year to provide access to quality higher education for students regardless of their economic origin.

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Mr Sisodia said that in the first year of the programme, less than 2,500 students benefited from it and a budget of Rs 14 million was allocated to it. “It is with great pleasure that 6,820 students benefited this year from this programme. The budget for this program has been increased this year to 48 million rupees,” he said.

“Vice-Chancellors of Universities and Colleges of Higher Education Institutions have made a significant contribution. As of 2015, higher education institutions in Delhi were not even included in the top 50. At present, it ranks among the top ten in various university rankings.

“We have been included in the list of the best universities in the country, but it is not far from the day when the institutes of higher education in Delhi will be listed among the best in the world. We have to work hard to make it happen.” The Deputy Minister added.

He said that there are three types of countries in the world: developed, developing and underdeveloped. “When we were in school, India was in the category of developing countries, and even today, it is in the category of developing countries. A country that does not develop with the strength or policies of governments, but on the basis of quality education.

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“Today, in ordinary Indian homes, when it comes to providing children with a better education, there is talk of sending them to Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge. Let us dream that after a few years, a family living in America, Great Britain and Japan is thinking about sending your children to a university in India for an education. Good. The day our universities become a dream for families in countries like the United States and Japan, we will proudly teach our children that India is no longer a developing country, but soon it will be a developed country, he said.

Under the Delhi Government scheme, 100% financial assistance is given to children of families with Class 1 ration cards. In the second category, students whose annual family income is less than 2.5 thousand rupees and receive financial aid are covered at 50 per cent. The third category includes students whose annual family income is more than 2.5 rupees but less than 6,000 rupees and who receive financial aid of 25 per cent.

A student must obtain at least 60 percent of the grades upon graduation in order to benefit from the plan. The Delhi government has awarded Rs 14.16 crore to 2,429 students in 2018-19, Rs 24 crore to 3,760 students in 2019-20 and Rs 48.14 crore to 6,820 students in 2020-21 under the scheme.