Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging that students of the disadvantaged sections should be given post-matric scholarship on time and the ‘pathetic’ situation of their hostels should be improved.
He also said that these issues obstruct education opportunities for 90 percent of students coming from marginalized communities.
In the letter of June 10, written to the Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi said, “I request you to solve two important issues that obstruct education opportunities for 90 percent of students coming from marginalized communities.”
He said, ‘First of all, the status of residential hostels is pathetic for students of Dalits, ST, EBC, OBC and minority communities. Recently, during a visit to Ambedkar Hostel in Darbhanga, Bihar, the students complained about a single room, forcing 6-7 students to live, there was no untouched toilets, unprotected drinking water, shortage of mess facilities and availability of libraries or internet. ‘
He said that post-matric scholarships are delayed and there are failures for the students of marginalized communities.
The Congress leader said, ‘For example, in Bihar, the scholarship portal was non-functional for three years, no student received scholarship in 2021-22. Subsequently, the number of Dalit students receiving the scholarship declined from 1.36 lakh in FY 2023 to 69 thousand in FY 2024. Students further complain that the scholarship amount is derogatoryly low.
He said, ‘Although I have given the example of Bihar, these failures are on a large scale across the country. I urge the government to immediately take two action to remove these failures.
Rahul Gandhi urged the Prime Minister to conduct each hostel audit to ensure good infrastructure, hygiene, food and educational facilities for students of Dalits, ST, EBC, OBC and minority communities and allocate adequate funds to overcome the deficiencies. He also said, “Post-matric scholarship distribute on time, increase the amount of scholarship and improve the execution by working closely with the state governments.”
The former Congress president said, ‘I am sure you will agree that India cannot progress until the youth of the marginalized communities progress. I am waiting for your positive response. ‘
