Report of the Committee

on Revamping
Scholarship Schemes
 “In dreams begin reality”
-W.B. Yeats

Executive Summary
¾ Procedural formalities - right from submission of
application forms and processing to sanction and
disbursement of scholarships should be made
simple, transparent and prompt.

¾ Existing Rules and orders pertaining to each

scholarship scheme should be progressively
simplified.

¾ There should be uniformity in the application

form and procedure of all scholarship schemes.
The application form should be re-designed so
that it would not have more than one page. An
ergonomic application form is appended.

¾ The diaries of all schools/colleges should carry

details of scholarship schemes. The application
forms for admission to educational institutions

1
 can have a separate, detachable information
sheet on the requirement of the student for
scholarships, and the particulars needed for this,
like income, email id, bank account details etc.

¾ A unique id for each educational institution and

a unique id to each student. The same id will be
retained by the student throughout his/her
student life.

¾ A website www.scholarships.kerala.gov.in where

details of all scholarship schemes are available
should be hosted.

¾ Scholarship Handbook in Malayalam and

English should be published every year.

¾ For all scholarship beneficiaries, (other than ST

students), e-mail id and bank account should be
made mandatory.

¾ From the year 2010-11 all processes from

application to disbursement of scholarships
should be online.

¾ Designate the Akshaya Centres as the nodal

points for scholarship servicing - submission of
applications and even payment, where there are
practical difficulties for payment through other
means.

2
¾ Ultimate aim should be disbursement of
scholarships through ATMs.

¾ Although it is a little too ambitious from the

present state of protracted delays, the committee
would like everyone dealing with scholarships to
be bound by certain time lines, as proposed below:

y Last date for submission of application forms -

15 days from the closing of admission/

re-opening;

y Processing of application forms and publication

of the draft list of provisionally selected scholars

- in 15 days from the close of applications;

y Filing of objections, if any - next 7 days;

y Consideration of objections, and publication of

final list of selected scholars - next 7 days;

y Disbursement of scholarships - next 15 days;

y Thus, within a total period of two months,

disbursement of scholarships should be

completed, and final report submitted to the
Government in the appropriate Department.

¾ There are certain scholarships with amounts as

low as Rs. 25/- per month and Rs. 125/- per
annum. The cost of administration of these
scholarships would be much higher than the
benefit to the students by way of scholarships.

3
¾ Online Payment System (OPS) through Bank
accounts/ATMs cannot be implemented where
the amount is below Rs. 100/-.

¾ A new concept of Minimum level of Scholarship

Assistance for different courses.

¾ For differently-abled persons, the scholarship

amount should be 50% more than the usual
amount to take care of the special needs of these
individuals.

¾ A system for institutional level appraisal of the

performance of the scholars, so that accountability
can be fixed.

¾ Those Scheduled Tribe students who avail

themselves of scholarships, and successfully
complete the course should be incentivised.

¾ Scholar’s Forum-organised by the students

themselves under the supervision of a designated
teacher who would act as Scholar Guide. It could
effectively diseminate information on all
scholarship schemes (through a separate Notice
Board for the purpose), assist all the intending
applicants in filling up forms, opening bank
accounts, and also render necessary support to
the Head of the institution in processing the
applications.

4
¾ Scholar’s Hub to help the scholars in the pursuit
of academic as well as extra curricular activities,
and choice of various careers.

¾ Renewal should be granted if the scholar has

obtained more than the stipulated marks in the
class examinations/internal assessment of the
institution.

¾ As far as students in the self-financing colleges

and courses are concerned, eligibility for
scholarships should be limited to those who have
secured admission in the merit quota through an
entrance examination/selection process
conducted/approved by the Government/
University.

¾ The limit of annual income of the parents for

Nadar/Muslim girls’ scholarship may be enhanced

from Rs. 25,000/- to Rs. 50,000/-.

¾ Every educational institution should have an

Imprest Fund, an Institutional Revolving Fund,

raised through the PTA or such other bodies, from

which it could pay to the scholars promptly and
later recoup as and when the scholarship is

sanctioned and disbursed by the Department.

5
¾ Heads of educational institutions should be
personally held responsible for any undue delay

in the disbursement or unjust retention of funds

earmarked for scholarships, particularly that of
students belonging to SC/STs.

¾ Designate a nodal officer for each District, like

the District Officer or Principal of the most

prominent educational institution of that
Department at the District headquarters.

¾ Institutions should be given permissive sanction

to open bank accounts for the purpose of
disbursing the scholarship amount.

¾ Scholarships should be administered by the

respective Departments to ensure proper co-
ordination and control. Scholarships pertaining
to Higher Secondary students should be
transferred from the DCE to the DHSE.

6
“The State shall defray the entire cost of the education of its

people in order that there may be no backwardness in the spread

of enlightenment among them, that by diffusion of education

they become better subjects and public servants”. – historic

proclamation of 1817 by HH Rani Gowri Parvathi Bai

1. Historical
Background
1.01. Culture-rich Kerala has never lagged
behind in pursuing education policies
of merit and vision. Over the years,
Maharajas, the early rulers of the
State and democratic governments
that followed them have ushered in
various schemes by which the extent
and coverage of such policies have
increased phenomenally.

The ancient 1.02. The ancient University in

University in
Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram,Kanthalloorshala,
Kanthalloorshala, was
given financial was given financial support by the
support by the then then Maharaja by way of food grains.
Maharaja by way of
food grains.
¡
7
 It is reported that when Rajendra
Cholan attacked Vizhinjam and the
‘shala’, he claimed for himself the title
of ‘Kanthalloorshalai Kalam Arutha’,
which meant that one who cut the
grant to the Kanthalloor Centre of
Learning. The appellation amply
reveals the significance of grants to
institutions, especially education
centres.

1.03. In the erstwhile State of Travancore,

since early 1800s, the royalty began
to set up English schools on its own
and also to support the missionaries,
with land, money, timber and duty
concession. These policies soon
culminated in the historic
proclamation of 1817 by HH Rani
Gowri Parvathi Bai:-

“The State shall defray the entire cost of

the education of its people in order that
there may be no backwardness in the
spread of enlightenment among them,
that by diffusion of education they
become better subjects and public
servants.”

1.04. The Nagercoil Seminary, founded by

Rev. Mead in 1818, was the first
institution to impart regular English

8

The royalty sponsored
the fees of 80 pupils.
This, perhaps, is the
first instance of a
major scholarship that
the State ever
offered.
¡
1.05. Until late 19th century, such support
During late 19 th
century, the idea of
individual student
scholarships began to
emerge.
¡
1.06. The school was taken over by the
education in the State. When
Maharaja Swathi Thirunal visited
the Nagercoil Seminary in 1834 he
was highly impressed by the
education imparted there and invited
Mr. John Roberts, Principal of the
Nagercoil Seminary, to open an
English School at Thiruva-
nanthapuram. Called Maharaja’s
Free School, it was at first only a
private school and the royalty
sponsored the fees of 80 pupils. This,
perhaps, is the first instance of a
major scholarship that the State ever
offered. The salary of Mr. Roberts
(Rs. 100/-, later enhanced to
Rs. 300/-, per month) too was paid
from the Government Treasury.
was institutional, rather than for
individual students. During late 19th
century, the idea of individual
student scholarships began to
emerge.
Government in 1836 and given the
name ‘Raja’s Free School.’ The
9

1.07. Even though the system of individual
H H Swathi Thirunal
himself visited the
school and gifted
golden rings to three
students.
¡
1.08. An order dated 1862 provided a
An order dated 1862
provided a generous
sum of Rs. 3,000/- to
enable the student
who stood first in the
examination to be sent
to Madras for higher
studies.
¡
strength of the school was increased
to 100.
merit-based scholarship was not in
vogue, there is evidence to show that
HH Swathi Thirunal himself visited
the School and gifted golden rings to
three students.
generous sum of Rs. 3,000/- to enable
the student who stood first in the
examination to be sent to Madras for
higher studies. Apart from this, in
1862, HH Uthradom Thirunal
instituted a scholarship in the name
of the British Resident Major General
William Cullen in the Madras High
School. By 1864, there were 500
pupils in the school. The Government
now began to levy a small fee from
the students, which in effect reduced
the scholarship amount. In 1864 the
first batch of students were presented
from the Raja’s Free School to the
matriculation examination of the
University of Madras.
10
 1.09. During the early 20th century, we see
During the early 20th
century, we see a rise
a rise in individual support for higher
in individual support education, mostly given to persons in
for higher education,
mostly given to government service so as to equip
persons in government
service so as to equip them for taking up modern projects.
them for taking up
modern projects.
An instance is the support given to
¡
Sri I.C. Chacko for studying Geology
in England.

1.10. With the advent of democracy as a

With the advent of
democracy as a
popular form of
government, we see a
phenomenal rise in the
number and quantum
of scholarship schemes
aimed at individual
students and with
special focus on the
disadvantaged groups.
¡
popular form of government, we see a
phenomenal rise in the number and
quantum of scholarship schemes
aimed at individual students and with
special focus on the disadvantaged
groups. Many of the scholarship
schemes in existence today have
emerged during this period.

1.11 Today, scholarships have become an

integral part of higher education. The
National Knowledge Commission has
Education is the
fundamental
underlined the importance of
mechanism for social scholarships in its report:-
inclusion through the
creation of more
opportunities. It is “Education is the fundamental
therefore essential to mechanism for social inclusion
ensure that no
student is denied the through the creation of more
opportunity to
participate in higher
opportunities. It is therefore essential
education due to to ensure that no student is denied the
financial constraints.
¡ opportunity to participate in higher

11
 education due to financial constraints.
NKC proposes the following measures.
A needs-blind
admissions policy z Institutions of higher education should
would make it
unlawful for be encouraged to adopt a needs-blind
educational
institutions to take admissions policy. This would make it
into account any unlawful for educational institutions
financial factor while
deciding whether or to take into account any financial
not to admit a
student. factor while deciding whether or not to
¡
admit a student.
There must be a
well-funded and
extensive National z There must be a well-funded and
Scholarship Scheme
extensive National Scholarship Scheme
targeting
economically under targeting economically under
privileged
students and privileged students and students from
students from
groups that are groups that are historically, socially
historically,
disadvantaged”.1
socially
disadvantaged.
¡ “Education is an essential
It is essential that mechanism for inclusion through the
in addition to
ensuring that no creation of social opportunities. It is,
student is denied
therefore, essential that in addition to
the opportunity to
participate in ensuring that no student is denied the
higher education
due to financial opportunity to participate in higher
constraints, access
to education for education due to financial constraints,
economically and
access to education for economically
historically socially
under privileged and historically socially under
students is
enhanced in a privileged students is enhanced in a
substantially more
effective manner. substantially more effective manner.
¡

12
1
Towards a Knowledge Society - three years of the National Knowledge
Commission (page 59), National Knowledge Commission, October 2008.
 Economic barriers to higher
education can be addressed by
Economic barriers ensuring financial viability for all
to higher
education can be students wanting to enter the world of
addressed by
higher education. This can be done
ensuring
financial through two strategies. One is to adopt
viability for all
students wanting a needs blind admissions policy. This
to enter the
world of higher would make it unlawful for
education.
¡ educational institutions to take into
account any financial factor while
deciding whether or not to admit a
student. Every institution will be free
to use a variety of instruments to
achieve this aim: scholarships or cross-
subsidies. In addition, academic
institutions would be able to set a fee
of their own choice subject to the
provision that there are at least two
The cost of banks that are willing to finance the
education
includes not just entire cost of education at that
fees but also institution, without any collateral
reasonable living
expenses other than the fact of admission. The
including costs
such as hostel cost of education includes not just fees
and mess fees and
any other but also reasonable living expenses
expenses including costs such as hostel and mess
associated with
the course of fees and any other expenses associated
study.
¡ with the course of study. Since,
commercial banks may be wary of

13
 funding economically deprived
We need a well-
funded and students, especially in non-professional
extensive National
Scholarship Scheme courses, we need a well-funded and
targeting
extensive National Scholarship Scheme
economically
underprivileged targeting economically underprivileged
students and
students from students and students from historically
historically socially
disadvantaged socially disadvantaged groups,
groups,
particularly students from rural and
particularly
students from rural backward areas. The success of this
and backward
areas. The success proposal depends on generous
of this proposal
depends on government support. For instance, the
generous
government should endeavour to make
government
support. These available about 100,000 scholarships
scholarships should
be set at a level for such students. These scholarships
where students are
empowered to go to should be set at a level where students
any institution of
are empowered to go to any institution
their choice.
¡
of their choice.

We also need to undertake more

proactive forms of affirmative action to
ensure inclusion of marginal and
excluded groups. Reservations are
essential but they are a part, and one
Disparities in form of, affirmative action. Disparities
educational
attainments are in educational attainments are related
related to caste and
social groups, but are to caste and social groups, but are also
also strongly related
to other indicators strongly related to other indicators
such as income, such as income, gender, region and
gender, region and
place of residence. place of residence. Access to quality
¡
14
 higher education is further limited for
students from certain types of schools.
Therefore deprivation of educational
opportunities is a multi-dimensional
problem and attention needs to be paid
to different salient levels of deprivation
faced by students. A meaningful and
comprehensive framework would
account for the multidimensionality of
differences that still persist. Such a
Therefore
deprivation of deprivation index could provide
educational
opportunities is a weighted scores to students and the
multi-dimensional cumulative score could be used to
problem and
attention needs to be supplement a student’s school
paid to different
salient levels of examination score. After adding the
deprivation faced by
students. score from the deprivation index, all
¡
students could compete for
admissions..............................................

..................................................................

......... Illustrative indicators of

backwardness that need to be
measured by such an index could
include social background covering
caste (keeping in view regional
variations), religion and gender, family
education history, family income, type
of school distinguishing between

15
 government and private schools and
between schools from different
locations, the medium of instruction,
place of residence distinguishing
between urban and rural areas and
accounting for regional deprivation by
sorting districts along an index of
infrastructure or access to social
benefits and physical disability”.2

16
2
Towards a Knowledge Society - three years of the National Knowledge
Commission (page 79-80), National Knowledge Commission, October 2008.
 2. The Need for a
Review & Revamp
2.01. Even in today’s fast world marked by
The greatest asset that the lure of money and obsession with
an individual can
procure is his/her
success, the greatest asset that an
education. No doubt, individual can procure is his/her
investment in
education is education. No doubt, investment in
investment in human
capital. education is investment in human
¡
capital. However, today education
has become expensive and well
beyond the reach of the common man.
It is truly unfortunate that many a
brilliant student is unable to reap the
benefits of education because of
financial constraints.

17

“Full many a gem of
purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed
caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is
born to blush unseen,
And waste its
sweetness on the
desert air.”
¡ And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”
2.02. In our own land, there are stories
Those of our former
Presidents,
Sri. K R Narayanan and
Sri. A P J Abdul Kalam
are but two instances of
‘gems of purest ray
serene’ whose precocious
talent would have gone
waste had it not been
for the timely financial
assistance by the
authorities.
¡
2.03. A well streamlined scholarship
As poignantly portrayed by Thomas
Gray, in his poem ‘Elegy Written in a
Country Church-Yard’,
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
aplenty of geniuses who made it to
the top with public financial
assistance alone. Those of our former
Presidents, Sri K R Narayanan and
Sri APJ Abdul Kalam are but two
instances of ‘gems of purest ray
serene’ whose precocious talent
would have gone waste had it not
been for the timely financial
assistance by the authorities.
Nevertheless, there are also many
stories of others of equal worth who
are compelled to languish for want of
such help in good time.
scheme is one of the solutions to this
problem. By definition, scholarship
is the grant of financial aid awarded
to a student to further his/her
education. Although there are a
18
 number of scholarship schemes at
Although there are a
number of scholarship present benefiting a large number of
schemes at present the
fact remains that a students, the fact remains that a
substantial number of substantial number of deserving
deserving students do
not enjoy the benefits students do not enjoy the benefits
thereof.
¡ thereof.

2.04. ‘Quality Education to All’ is the policy

of the Government. Education till 10th
standard is provided absolutely free
by the Government, and beyond that
too is being made accessible to all by

‘Quality Education to mainly keeping the fees affordable.

All’ is the policy of
the Government.
The students still have to meet
¡ expenses for books, learning
materials, transport, accommodation,
etc. Scholarships are, therefore,
provided to students belonging to
economically and socially backward
sections of the society. Scholarships
are also provided to meritorious
students, irrespective of income and
background.

Creation of a Higher 2.05. Creation of a Higher Education

Education Scholarship
Fund to provide Scholarship Fund to provide
scholarships to the
needy students is
scholarships to the needy students is
another major policy another major policy initiative of the
intiative.
¡ Government, for which preliminary

19

It is proposed to
create a corpus of
Rs. 100 crore from
among the various
stake holders to
launch a massive
scholarship scheme.
¡
2.06. There is a variety of scholarship
Yet another issue of
serious concern is that
the scholarships do
not reach the
beneficiaries in time.
¡ publicity or timely information from
2.07. Government have realised the gravity
steps have already been taken by the
Higher Education Council. It is
proposed to create a corpus of Rs.100
crore from among the various stake
holders to launch a massive
scholarship scheme. An amount of
Rs.3 crore has been provided by the
Government towards this.
schemes administered by various
Departments and Ministries of the
State and Central Governments.
Nevertheless, many of the needy
students are not able to avail of these
scholarships due to the lack of
authentic sources. At the same time,
a few take undue advantage of
receiving benefits from more than one
scheme concurrently. Yet another
issue of serious concern is that the
scholarships do not reach the
beneficiaries in time.
of the problem and appointed a
committee with the following
20
 members to suggest measures to
revamp scholarship schemes:

1. Principal Secretary, Higher Education;

2. Additional Chief Secretary, General
Administration or his senior
representative;
3. Additional Chief Secretary, Finance or
his senior representative;
4. Principal Secretary, Local Self
Government;
5. Principal Secretary, SC/ST
Development;
6. Principal Secretary, General Education;
7. Director of Technical Education;
8. Director of Public Instruction;
9. Director of Collegiate Education;
10. Director of Higher Secondary
Education;
11. Director of Vocational Higher
Secondary Education;
12. Director, Scheduled Caste
Development;
13. Director, Scheduled Tribe Development;
14. Director, National Informatic Centre;
15. Convenor, State Level Banker’s
Committee, Canara Bank, Thiruvana-
nthapuram;
16. MD, KSAVRC.

21
2.08. It was decided that the Managing
Director, KSAVRC should provide
necessary secretarial/research/
printing facility to the committee,
which was to submit the report
within one month.

2.09. The committee, after several sittings

and collection of information from
various Departments, deliberated on
all the issues and has come out with
implementable suggestions.

2.10. This report takes a look at the present

scenario of scholarships, its merits
and shortcomings and submits
recommendations to make the State’s
scholarship schemes more effective
and egalitarian.

22
 3. The Present

Scenario

3.01. T he scholarship schemes of the

Departments of Technical Education,

Collegiate Education, Public
Instruction, Higher Secondary
Education, Vocational Higher
Secondary Education, Scheduled
Castes Development and Scheduled
Tribes Development are discussed in
this report, and the details are
presented in tabular form.

23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
 4. Observations

4.01. At present, there are various

scholarship schemes of State and

Central Governments for different
categories, implemented by various
Departments. Owing to the unwieldy
divergence of such schemes, their
monitoring is not done effectively.
Consequently, timely disbursement
is more often an exception rather
Very often,
scholarship assistance
than the rule. Generally, scholarship
reaches the students assistance reaches the students only
only by the end of the
course, and, by the end of the course, and,
sometimes, even after
it. sometimes, even after it. Another
¡
area of concern is the absence of a
system for prevention of multiple
35
 scholarship applications from the
same student.

All the prevailing 4.02. All the prevailing scholarship

scholarship schemes
are not well defined;
and this leaves scope
for prevarication.
¡
Complex procedural
formalities pose
another issue of
graver concern. The
solution is simple:
easy-to-read forms and
quickly executable
procedural
formalities.
¡
schemes are not well defined; and
this leaves scope for prevarication.
Students are not sufficiently informed
on the details of scholarship schemes.
Apart from this, the scholarship
application forms, that appear in
small font, are taxing to the human
eye and run to several pages.
Complex procedural formalities pose
another issue of graver concern. The
solution is simple: easy-to-read forms
and quickly executable procedural
formalities.

Scholarship amount 4.03. The scholarship amount needs to be

needs to be
periodically and periodically and realistically
realistically enhanced
to keep pace with the enhanced to keep pace with the rising
rising cost of cost of education. New and innovative
education.
¡
ideas need to be ushered in for raising
resources for scholarships.

Institutions need to 4.04. Institutions need to be given the

be given the freedom
freedom to augment further resources
to augment further
resources for for scholarships. They should also
scholarships.
¡
have the powers to sanction schemes

36
 for which they have mobilised
resources.

4.05. Since there is no exclusive website for

A single scholarship
web site containing
details of all the
available scholarships
is the need of the
hour.
¡ ships is the need of the hour.
scholarships, candidates applying for
a particular scholarship offered by a
particular Department have to
depend on the website of the
Department, and, if it is not in the
website, they have to contact the
Department directly. A single
scholarship web site containing
details of all the available scholar-

Details of
scholarships available
4.06. The details of scholarships available
are not given are not given adequate publicity in
adequate publicity in
the media. Students the media. On account of this,
find it difficulty to
identify the students find it difficult to identify the
scholarship of their
choice.
scholarship of their choice.
¡

No uniformity in the
4.07. There is no uniformity in the
application forms and
eligibility conditions
for the scholarships.
¡
application forms and eligibility
conditions for the scholarships
administered by the various
Departments. In some cases the
criteria of selection is based on merit,
and in others it is on the basis of
income/caste/category, etc.

37
 4.08. Some of the scholarships of SC/ST
Some of the
scholarships of SC/ST Development Department have a
Development
Department have a stipend of only Rs. 55/- to
stipend of only Rs.
55/- to Rs.70/-per Rs.70/-per month. The paper work
month. The paper
and procedural formalities cost more
work and procedural
formalities cost more than the scholarship assistance,
than the scholarship
assistance. which is just a token. There is a
¡
genuine case for revising this.

4.09. The Scheduled Tribe applicants are a

special category to be focused for grant
Awareness among the of scholarships. For this, awareness
tribal students has to
be increased with among the tribal students has to be
special care to
encourage and
increased with special care to
support. encourage and support.
¡

4.10. At present, the scholarship assistance

ATM card facility,
can be made
operational only if the
scholarship assistance
is raised to at least
Rs.100/-, as the ATM
withdrawals are
restricted to multiples
of Rs.100/-.
¡
is paid by way of cheques/demand
drafts. Certain Departments have
issued guidelines for opening of bank
account and withdrawal through ATM
card facility. However, this can be
made operational only if the
scholarship assistance is raised to at
least Rs.100, as the ATM with
drawals are restricted to multiples of
Rs.100/-.

38
“The difficulty ................ is often not with the new ideas, but in
escaping the old ones. A certain amount of irreverence is
essential for creative pursuit .....................”.
—Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman

5. Recommendations

The recommendations of the

committee are summarized below:

5.01. In general, the procedural formalities

Procedural formalities
- right from —right from submission of
submission of
application forms and application forms and processing to
processing to sanction
and disbursement of sanction and disbursement of
scholarships - should scholarships—should be made
be made simple,
transparent and simple, transparent and prompt so
prompt.
¡ that scholarships serve the basic
purpose of providing support to
enable both the poor and the
meritorious students to pursue their
studies.

39
 5.02. To achieve the above objective, the
Existing Rules and
orders pertaining to
each scholarship
scheme should be
progressively
simplified.
¡
5.03. As far as possible, there should be
There should be
uniformity in the
application form and
procedure of all
scholarship schemes.
The application form
should be re-designed
so that it would not
have more than one
page. An ergonomic
application form is
appended.
¡
5.04
existing Rules and orders pertaining
to each scholarship scheme should be
progressively simplified by
all the scholarship administering
Departments so as to make it
absolutely hassle free.
uniformity in the application form
and procedure of all scholarship
schemes of various Departments.
Forms need to be simplified and
modernised. (For example, gender
neutrality has to be ensured). NIC has
been requested to take further action
in this regard. The application form
should be re-designed so that it would
not have more than one page. An
ergonomic application form is
appended in Annexure 7 h as a
model.
The application form for all the
scholarships should have columns for
the bank a/c details as well as the
email-id of the applicant to enable
quick communication and easy
payment. The paper application form
40
 would continue for Schedule Tribe
category only.

The diaries of all

schools/colleges should
5.05 The diaries of all schools/colleges
carry details of should carry details of scholarship
scholarship schemes.
The application forms schemes. The application forms for
for admission to
educational admission to educational institutions
institutions can have
a separate, detachable
can have a separate, detachable
information sheet on information sheet on the requirement
the requirement of the
student for of the student for scholarships, and
scholarships, and the
particulars needed for
the particulars needed for this, like
this, like income, income, email id, bank account details
email id, bank account
details etc. etc.
¡
5.06. In order to track the progress of the
student through the various stages of
A unique id for each education, a unique id for each
educational
institution and a educational institution and a unique
unique id to each id to each student based on the SSC/
student. The same id
will be retained by Board examination number and year,
the student
throughout his/her
are to be provided. The same id will
student life. be retained by the student throughout
¡
his/her student life. (In future, this
could be the Universal ID). This
would also ensure that the student
does not take advantage of more than
one scholarship, at a time.

Website www.
5.07. A website www.scholarships.kerala.
scholarships.kerala. gov.in where details of all scholarship
gov.in where details
of all scholarship schemes are available should be
schemes are available
should be hosted. hosted.
¡
41
Scholarship 5.08 A comprehensive Scholarship
Handbook
in Malayalam Handbook in Malayalam and
and English
English should be published yearly
should be
published by the Special Officer, Scholarships
every year.
¡ of DCE, and adequate number of
printed copies made available. The
Hand Book should also be published
in website for free downloading.

For all scholarship 5.09 For all scholarship beneficiaries,

beneficiaries, (other
than ST students), (other than ST students), e-mail id
e-mail id and bank
account should be and bank account should be made
made mandatory. mandatory.
¡

5.10. From the year 2010-11 onwards, the

From the year
2010-11 all processes
from application to
disbursement of
scholarships should be
online.
¡ July, 2010 have to be taken right
current manual system has to be
dispensed with. All educational
institutions/scholarship
administering Departments should
be accessible online. The entire
process from application to
disbursement of scholarships should
be online. Preparatory steps towards
implementing the same from the next
academic year starting from June/
now. In consultation with NIC/the
selected Service Provider, action
should be pursued so that the

42

Designate the 5.11
Akshaya Centres as
the nodal points for
scholarship servicing -
submission of
applications and even
payment, where there
are practical
difficulties for
payment through other
means.
¡ through other means. Akshaya
5.12. The
Ultimate aim should
be disbursement of
scholarships through
ATMs.
¡
software and other related systems
are in place by January, 2010.
Finance Department should permit
the Departments to meet the charges
to NIC/ Service Provider from the
same head of account as that of the
scholarships.
The IT Mission can be requested to
designate the Akshaya Centres as
the nodal points for scholarship
servicing—submission of applications
and even payment, where there are
practical difficulties for payment
Centres can be part of the publicity
campaign, and can also facilitate the
processing and disbursement of
scholarships. The application forms
can be distributed free of cost through
Akshaya Centres which will assist in
the initial processing and submission.
In addition to Akshaya Centres, High
Schools, Higher Secondary Schools
and Vocational Higher Secondary
Schools can also facilitate this.
ultimate aim should be
disbursement of scholarships
through ATMs. To work out the
43
 modalities, a committee may be
constituted with the following
members, viz. IT Secretary, Finance
Secretary, SC/ST Secretary, SLBC
Convener, Director NIC, and DTE as
convener. SLBC may be requested to
instruct their member banks to open
Extension Counters in all
educational institutions to facilitate
easy disbursement of scholarships
through bank accounts (Zero balance
account). Wherever this is not
practicable, nearby banks can open
kiosks in the educational institutions
on the day of admission to enable the
students to open account immediately
on sanction of scholarship, with the
support of the school/college
authorities.

Although it is a little 5.13 Although it is a little too ambitious

too ambitious from the
present state of from the present state of protracted
protracted delays, the delays, the committee would like
committee would like
everyone dealing with everyone dealing with scholarships to
scholarships to be
bound by certain time be bound by certain time lines, as
lines.Within a total proposed below:
period of two months,
disbursement of
scholarships should be i. Last date for submission of
completed, and final application forms - 15 days from
report submitted to
the Government in the the closing of admission/re-
appropriate
Department. opening;
¡
44
 ii. Processing of application forms
and publication of the draft list of
provisionally selected scholars - in
15 days from the close of
applications;

iii. Filing of objections, if any - next 7

days;

iv. Consideration of objections, and

publication of final list of selected
scholars - next 7 days;

v. Disbursement of scholarships -
next 15 days;

vi. Thus, within a total period of two

months, disbursement of
scholarships should be completed,
and final report submitted to the
Government in the appropriate
Department.

There are certain 5.14. There are certain scholarships with

scholarships with
amounts as low as amounts as low as Rs.25/- per month
Rs. 25/- per month
and Rs. 125/- per and Rs. 125/- per annum. The
annum. The cost of committee noted that the cost of
administration of
these scholarships administration of these scholarships
would be much higher
than the benefit to would be much higher than the
the students by way
of scholarships. benefit to the students by way of
¡
scholarships received. Apart from

45
Online Payment this, the proposed change-over to the
System (OPS) through
Bank accounts/ATMs Online Payment System (OPS)
cannot be
implemented where through Bank accounts/ATMs cannot
the amount is below
Rs. 100/-.
be implemented where the amount is
¡
below Rs.100/-. The committee
A new concept of proposes a new concept of Minimum
Minimum level of
Scholarship Assistance level of Scholarship Assistance for
for different courses.
¡ different courses as below:-

Sl.No Level Rs/ Rs/

month Annum
1. High School 100 1000
2. HSE/Plus 2 200 2000
3. ITI/Polytechnic/VHSE 250 2500
4. Arts/Science/Law Degree 300 3000
5. PG excluding MCA & MBA 350 3500
6. B.Tech/MBA/others
Professional Degree 500 5000
7. M.Phil 600 6000
8. M.Tech 800 8000
9. MBBS 1000 10000
10. PG Medicine 1300 13000
11. PhD 1500 15000

Each scholarship administering

Department should initiate steps to
revise the scholarship amounts every
two years based on the minimum
threshold, as above.

46
For differently-abled 5.15
persons, the
scholarship amount
should be 50% more
than the usual amount
to take care of the
special needs of these
individuals.
¡
A system for 5.16
institutional level
appraisal of the
performance of the
scholars, so that
accountability can be
fixed.
¡ should be a similar system in the
Those Scheduled Tribe 5.17
students who avail
themselves of
scholarships, and
successfully complete
the course should be
incentivised.
¡
5.18
Where the beneficiary is a differently-
abled person, the scholarship
amount should be 50% more than the
usual amount to take care of the
special needs of these individuals.
They should be given special
assistance and support too by the
Heads of the educational institutions
in getting the forms filled up and in
submitting the applications in time.
There should be a system for
institutional level appraisal of the
performance of the scholars, so that
accountability can be fixed. There
Department concerned too to keep a
portfolio of students receiving
scholarships for continuous
assessment/analysis of the academic
progress.
Those Scheduled Tribe students who
avail themselves of scholarships, and
successfully complete the course
should be incentivised.
For Scheduled Tribe students, in
each institution an officer (with good
communication skills) should be
designated to meet them frequently
and encourage them in furthering
their studies.
47
Scholar’s Forum- 5.19 Scholar’s Forum – organised by the
organised by the
students themselves students themselves could be set up
under the supervision in each educational institution, under
of a designated
teacher who would the supervision of a designated (by
act as Scholar Guide.
¡ the Head of the institution) teacher,
who would act as Scholar Guide. This
It could effectively
diseminate Forum could effectively disseminate
information on all information on all scholarship
scholarship schemes
(through a separate schemes (through a separate Notice
Notice Board for the
Board for the purpose), assist all the
purpose), assist all the
intending applicants intending applicants in filling up
in filling up forms,
opening bank forms, opening bank accounts, and
accounts, and also also render necessary support to the
render necessary
support to the Head Head of the institution in processing
of the institution in
the applications, getting the same
processing the
applications. forwarded to the authorities, and
¡
further follow up, if need be. The
Scholar’s Hub to help Forum could also act as a Scholar’s
the scholars in the
pursuit of academic as Hub to help the scholars in the
well as extra pursuit of academic as well as extra-
curricular activities,
and choice of various curricular activities, and choice of
careers.
¡ various careers.

5.20 A policy decision at Government level

Renewal should be
granted if the scholar
has obtained more
than the stipulated
marks in the class
exams/internal
assessment of the
institution.
¡
is required in the case of renewal of
scholarships. There are stipulations
for minimum marks for University/
Board examination for renewal of
scholarships. This causes hurdles in
the renewal of such scholarships due
to delay in publication of the results
by Universities/Board. In such cases,
48
 renewal should be granted if the
scholar has obtained more than the
stipulated marks in the class
examinations/internal assessment of
the institution. However, in the
University examination, if the
candidate fails to obtain the required
percentage, he/she would not be
ineligible for the scholarship
assistance thereafter.
The required percentages for
merit - based scholarships can be
fixed as follows:
ST - Pass
SC-For Science subjects - 45%
SC-All other subjects - 40%
Gen. category - Science - 50%
Gen. category - others - 45%

For renewal in cases where the

examinations are conducted in the
semester pattern, the following
results should be considered to assess
progress. (Central Government also
needs to be addressed on this.)

1st semester result for 1st year.

3rd semester result for 2nd year.
5th semester result for 3rd year.
5.21 There are cases of students who have
availed scholarship for the first year
and subsequently become ineligible
for getting it for the second year. It
49
 may be due to non attainment of the
specified grade in the first year
examination or the required
percentage of attendance or owing to
discontinuation of the studies. The
lapsing of such scholarships can be
overcome by a modification in the
existing rule permitting grant of the
same in the second year onwards to
those students who could not get it
in the first year on account of the
limitation in the number of
scholarships.

5.22 The existing criteria fixed for

selection of students for scholarship
is WGPA (Weighted Grade Point
Average). This includes grade/marks
obtained for the qualifying
examination and other bonus points.
The criteria may be re-fixed based on
the grade/marks obtained for the
qualifying examination, specifying
the exact formula of conversion of
grade points to equivalent
percentages.

5.23 In the case of competitive scholar-

ships, comparison of marks/grades
from different streams should be done
after scientific normalization like
Z- scores.

50
 As far as students in 5.24 The committee is of opinion that as
the self-financing
colleges and courses are far as students in the self-financing
concerned, eligibility colleges and courses are concerned,
for scholarships should
be limited to those who eligibility for scholarships should be
have secured admission
in the merit quota limited to those who have secured
through an entrance admission in the merit quota through
examination/selection
process conducted/ an entrance examination/selection
approved by the
Government/ process conducted/approved by the
University. Government/University.
¡
The limit of annual
income of the parents
5.25 The limit of annual income for Nadar/
for Nadar/Muslim girls’ Muslim girls’ scholarship may be
scholarship may be
enhanced from enhanced from Rs. 25,000/- to
Rs. 25,000/- to
Rs. 50,000/-.
Rs. 50,000/-.
¡
5.26 DTE has suggested increase in the
In Technical High
Schools, increase in number of Merit cum Means
the number of
scholarship scholarship (THS) beneficiaries from
beneficiaries from the
the present 10% to 15%. This may be
present 10% to 15%
¡
may be considered. considered.
Every educational 5.27 Every educational institution should
institution should
have an Imprest have an Imprest Fund, an
Fund, an
Institutional Institutional Revolving Fund, raised
Revolving Fund, through the PTA or such other bodies,
raised through the
PTA or such other from which it could pay to the
bodies, from which it
could pay to the scholars promptly and later recoup as
scholars promptly and and when the scholarship is
later recoup as and
when the scholarship sanctioned and disbursed by the
is sanctioned and
disbursed by the Department. The PTAs can also
Department. supplement the scholarship amount,
¡
wherever required. Institutions can
51

Heads of educational 5.28
institutions should be
personally held
responsible for any
undue delay in the
disbursement or
unjust retention of
funds earmarked for
scholarships,
particularly that of
students belonging to
SC/STs.
¡
5.29
Designate a nodal
officer for each
District, like the
District Officer or
Principal of the most
prominent educational
institution of that
Department at the
District headquarters.
¡
5.30
also generate resources for
scholarships, and the Government
could consider providing matching
grants.
The Heads of educational institutions
should be personally held responsible
for any undue delay in the
disbursement or unjust retention of
funds earmarked for scholarships,
particularly that of students
belonging to SC/STs.
Every scholarship administering
Department should designate a nodal
officer for each District. He/she could
be either the District officer or
Principal of the most prominent
educational institution of that
Department at the District
headquarters. The mobile number,
email address and other contact
details of the officer should be given
wide publicity.
Any restrictions like prior sanction
from Government/Head of the
Department for Heads of institutions
to open bank accounts for the purpose
of disbursing the scholarship amount
need to be relaxed. Institutions
52
Institutions should be should be given permissive sanction
given permissive
to open bank accounts for the
sanction to open bank
accounts for the purpose. A Government order from
purpose of disbursing
the scholarship the Finance Department to this effect
amount.
should make this mandatory for
¡
streamlining scholarship adminis-
tration.

Scholarships should be 5.31 All scholarships should be

administered by the
respective administered by the respective
Departments to ensure
Departments to ensure proper co-
proper co-ordination
and control. ordination and control. The
Scholarships
pertaining to Higher scholarships pertaining to Higher
Secondary students
Secondary students should be
should be transferred
from the DCE to the transferred from the DCE to the
DHSE.
¡ DHSE.

5.32 Some of the scholarships are routed

through Local Self Government
institutions. While this has the
definite advantage of involvement of
the local representatives of the
people, on account of too many
procedural formalities, there are
difficulties in the smooth disburse-
ment of scholarships which result in
the lapse of funds. The committee
Scholarships could be
disbursed to students suggests that the Government may
directly by the
Departments review this system and make it less
concerned through
cumbersome. Scholarships could be
their designated
District/nodal officer. disbursed to students directly by the
¡

53

Rules relating to 5.33
Suvarnajayanthi and
Merit scholarships
should be suitably
modified.
¡ modified to make implementation
5.34
Permanent publicity
mechanism for
scholarships through
the District
Information Officers
to ensure adequate
publicity in all the
leading Malayalam/
English dailies.
¡
departments concerned through their
designated District/nodal officer.
The Rules relating to
Suvarnajayanthi and Merit
scholarships should be suitably
simpler.
The Director of Public Relations
should put in place a permanent
publicity mechanism for scholarships
through the District Information
Officers to ensure adequate publicity,
well in time, at each stage, in all the
leading Malayalam/English dailies.
Regular scholarship column
conveying information on all the
scholarships, including the names/
number of the scholars—on a regular/
weekly basis in the newspapers, is a
good idea. In addition to adequate
publicity through press, there should
be a special media campaign too with
focus on radio and television.
54
“To him we cannot answer “Tomorrow”. His name is “Today”.
—Gabriele Mistral

6. Concluding

Remarks

6.01. It is evident that the various

scholarship schemes of the
Government have been a major
source of ensuring equity and access
to education for the meritorious as
well as the marginalized. However,
the machinery for delivery of this
socially useful scheme is rusty, cogged
and outmoded.

6.02. With newer and faster technologies

taking over , the scheme will not only
be running more efficiently and
promptly but also economically if the

55
 technologies are well integrated to
the mode of application and
disbursement of funds.

6.03 The recommendations on the

minimum level of scholarships and
on using effective communication
means to focus all deserving groups
will go a long way in redefining the
scope and reach of scholarships.

6.04. The committee earnestly hopes that

the recommendations would be
implemented. This will put in place
a more efficient scholarship
administration, that will definitely
provide the necessary fillip for our
blooming talents so that the
sweetness and fragrance of the poor
as well as the deserving students
would not go fallow.

1. Principal Secretary, Higher Education

2. Additional Chief Secretary, General
Administration or his senior representative
3. Additional Chief Secretary,
Finance or his senior representative
4. Principal Secretary, Local Self Government
5. Principal Secretary, SC/ST Development
6. Principal Secretary, General Education

56
7. Director of Technical Education
8. Director of Public Instruction
9. Director of Collegiate Education
10. Director of Higher Secondary Education
11. Director of Vocational Higher Secondary
Education
12. Director, Scheduled Caste Development
13. Director, Scheduled Tribe Development
14. Director, National Informatic Centre
15. Convenor, State Level Banker’s Committee,
Canara Bank, Thiruvananthapuram
16. Managing Director, Kerala State Audio
Visual and Reprographic Centre

57
 7. Annexures

M inutes of the discussion of the Group of

Ministers on revamping scholarship schemes held
on18.8.2009 is in Annexure – 7(a)

Government have constituted a committee to study

the various scholarship schemes implemented
through the different departments of Government
and to make recommendations for revamping the
existing scholarship schemes. The details of the
Government order dated 21.08.09 are given in
Annexure – 7(b)

The minutes of the first meeting of the committee

on revamping scholarship schemes held on
22.08.2009 is in Annexure – 7(c)
58
T he scholarship schemes available with the
various Departments are in Annexure – 7(d) and
these are linked by NIC to the specific website for
scholarships.

The suggestions for revamping put forth by the

Departments are attached in Annexure-7(e)

A project proposal of the Higher Education

Department for on-line registration prepared by
NIC is in Annexure – 7(f)

Scholarship application forms of the various

Departments are in Annexure-7(g)

An ergonomic application form prepared is given

in Annexure-7(h)

59