Tripura govt to spend Rs 169.9 cr for welfare of OBC students

Agartala: The Tripura government has initiated a plan to spend Rs 169.9 crore to provide quality education to 4,45,430 students of the OBC community in the next five years.

Speaking with reporters, Ratan Lal Nath, minister of education and welfare of OBC, said that a total of 3,39,332 students will receive pre-matric scholarship worth Rs 29.97 crore. The fund sharing pattern will be 50:50, to borne equally by the state and Central governments.

Similarly, the state government will bear the 100% expenditure of Rs 129 crore in providing post-matric scholarship to 1,50,231 students in the next five years. Professional courses like BTech, MTech, MBA, BBA, BCA, MCA, GNM, etc, are included in this scholarship, he added.

Nath informed, “The OBC department decided to bear the expenditure of Rs 6,73,63,000 for sending 610 students to study BEd course outside the state while a sum of Rs 38,40,000 will be borne by the department for providing D. El. Ed course to 310 students.”

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Speaking about those students who are pursing B.Ed and D.El.Ed courses on their own ability and whose family income is less than Rs 1.5 lakh per annum, the minister said that the department also took the decision of giving stipends of Rs 35,000 per annum to those students who are studying B. Ed course and this stipend was given to 900 students in 2018-19 financial year bearing an expenditure of Rs 3.15 crore.

In case of D. El. Ed, government is giving stipend to those students pursing this course and 700 students got this benefit in 2018-19 financial year with Rs 32,000 stipend per annum bearing an expenditure of Rs 2 crore 24 lakh, he added.

Citing the initiative about those students pursing pre-matric scholarship having family income of less than 2.5 lakh per annum, the department initiated to give stipend of Rs 1,000. In 2018-19 financial year, the stipend was given to 58,332 students and 60,000 students to get this benefit in this financial year of 2019-2020 spending a sum of Rs 6 crore.

Apart from this, the department is also sending students of OBC community for studying B. Sc nursing, GNM, paramedical courses outside the state. Out of the entire population in Tripura, the OBC community comprises approximately 30%.

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