New Delhi, June 8
Muslim students bagged the bulk of central government scholarships meant for minorities during the 11th Plan while other minorities including Christians and Sikhs finished far behind on the list.

In all categories of scholarships — from the ones awarded for pre and post matric study at schools to those meant for higher studies — Muslim students remained prime beneficiaries, having pocketed an average of 79.06 per cent scholarships granted across segments.

For this community, achievements under the schemes outstripped the average national achievement, which means many more scholarships than those targeted were given.

Analysing the trends, chairperson of National Minorities Commission Wajahat Habibullah said it was heartening to see Muslims waking up to the need for education.

“The trend of 80 pc scholarships going to Muslims is very heartening. It reflects a growing consciousness in the community to the need for education. Christians have historically availed of educational facilities. They have facilities for education within their community. Most missionary schools offer free education. Sikhs are more prosperous than Muslims who are as poor as SCs and STs. That explains these trends,” Habibullah said, adding that the scholarship scheme had worked well to awaken a slumbering Muslim population to the fruits of education.

By contrast, Christians and Sikhs managed an average of around 11.8 per cent and 6.81 per cent of scholarships granted under different heads in five years respectively.

Minority Affairs Ministry runs three scholarship schemes to encourage parents from minority communities to send their wards for school and higher education. Pre-matric scholarship scheme covers minority students from classes I to X and pays their admission fee (Rs 500 per annum), tuition fee (Rs 350 a year) and maintenance fee (Rs 600 annually for hostellers) during the period of study.

Post-matric scheme supports those in classes XI to XII and those pursuing technical courses and awards each eligible student Rs 10,000 annually. Means-cum-merit scholarship scheme is meant for minority students seeking professional degrees in recognised institutions; 20,000 annual scholarships are given in this segment.

The scholarships are meant for all five centrally listed minorities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians. Now picture this - out of 1.21 crore pre-matric scholarships awarded by the government since the scheme commenced in 2008, 78.04 per cent (95,14,341 scholarships) went to Muslims. Christians got 13,73,631 (11 per cent), Sikhs 8,23,270 (6.75 per cent), Buddhists 4,78,518 (3.92 per cent) and Parsis 2,101 (0.017 per cent) of all scholarships awarded.

Nationally, achievement under pre-matric scheme was 161.89 per cent in the 11th plan as 1.21 crore scholarships were awarded as against the target of 75,31,000. Muslims were the only minority for which achievement was 173.24 per cent - more than the national average. It was 143.62 per cent for Christians, 107.81 per cent for Sikhs, 151.28 per cent for Buddhists and 80.13 per cent for Parsis.

Under the post-matric scholarship scheme, the government gave 1.78 crore scholarships between 2007 and 2012. Of these too, 80.66 per cent (1,44,1579) went to Muslim students followed by 11 per cent to Christians, 6.5 per cent to Sikhs, 0.8 per cent to Buddhists and 0.003 per cent to Parsis.

Five year achievement under this scheme was also more than the target of 1.55 crore scholarships with the achievement rate being 115.30 per cent. Cumulative five year achievement for Muslims was 127.54 per cent - more than the national average.

Achievement for the other minority communities was also higher than the targets set but for none of these was it more than the national average (Christians 108.56 per cent; Sikhs 74.59 per cent; Buddhists 22.36 per cent and Parsis 10.89 per cent).

Under the means-cum-merit scholarship scheme which began in 2007, 1,62,967 scholarship awards were given till the financial year 2011-12.