(a) whether there is any provision for reservation for the poor students of minority communities in the minority educational institutes;
(b) if so, the percentage thereof and the manner in which it is being implemented; and
(c) if not, whether the Government would take initiative for facilitating poor minorities and if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS
(SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)
(a) to (c) : The Government by the act of Parliament enacted the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) Act, 2014 to constitute National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions and to provide for matters connected therewith. There is no provision for reservation for poor minority students under the NCMEI Act, 2014. However, the minority educational institutions are established primarily for the educational empowerment of the notified minority communities and also the State Government can prescribe percentage of the minority community to be admitted in a minority educational institution.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs also implements programmes/schemes for educational empowerment of students from the economically weaker & disadvantaged sections of the six (6) centrally notified minority communities namely Buddhist, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs. The educational schemes/programmes implemented by the Ministry in brief are as under:-
(1) Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme, Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme and Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Scheme.
(2) Maulana Azad National Fellowship Scheme - Provides fellowships in the form of financial assistance.
(3) Naya Savera - Free Coaching and Allied Scheme - The Scheme aims to provide free coaching to students/candidates belonging to minority communities for qualifying in entrance examinations of technical/ medical professional courses and various Competitive examinations.
(4) Padho Pardesh - Scheme of interest subsidy to students of minority communities on educational loans for overseas higher studies.
(5) Nai Udaan - Support for students clearing Prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), State Public Service Commission (PSC) Staff Selection Commission (SSC) etc.
(6) Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) implements education related schemes as follows: - (a) Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship for Meritorious Girls belonging to the economically weaker sections of Minorities (b) Bridge Course for madarsa students & school dropouts.
(7) Scheme for Providing Education to Madarsas/Minorities (SPEMM), is an Umbrella scheme which comprises of two sub-schemes namely "Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM)" and "Infrastructure Development in Minority Institutes (IDMI)".
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