(a) whether the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SCs/ STs) students pursuing professional courses in colleges including self-financing colleges are exempted from paying fees at the time of admission;
(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
(c) whether there is any proposal to exempt the SC/ST students from paying fees for professional courses and if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) to (c) Ministry of Human Resource Development had issued guidelines to all Centrally Funded Higher Edu- cational Institutions (CFHEI) to facilitate the admi- ssion of deserving and eligible Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs) students based on the following criteria:-
(i) No fees need be charged at the time of admission from the SC/ST students who are eligible for Post- matric Scholarships/Top Class Scholarships. At the time of admission they may be advised to deposit the fee with the Institute as soon as they receive the scholarship amount. An undertaking to this effect may be taken from them at the time of admission. However, the CFHEIs will be responsible for timely verification, etc. of documents and the submission to facilitate timely disbursement of scholarships.
(ii) In other cases, if any SC/ST student failed to deposit the fee in the Institute, then fees may be charged after making special efforts to get them requisite loan sanctioned, including facility of interest subsidy to those whose income is below Rs 4.5 lakhs, where applicable.
(iii) Special schemes under Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan/ Tribal Sub-Plan may also be drawn, in consultation with the target group in respective CFHEIs, for providing other facilities like books, equipment etc. essentially required for completion of course, which are not covered under these Scholarship Schemes, for SC/ST students.