Six months on, meritorious SSC students yet to be feted

In order to provide financial assistance to students who come from under-privileged backgrounds, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had initiated a scheme wherein students studying in civic-run schools who secure 85 per cent and above in their SSC and HSC exams will be rewarded with Rs 51,000 each. The financial support would help them pursue further studies.

Although the scheme is laudable, the inordinate delay brings to fore the sluggish pace with which the administration carries out its work. While initiating the scheme, which was started last year, the civic body had announced that the students would be rewarded after the results are declared.

The HSC results came out in May, while the SSC results were declared in June. From the 22 schools that are run by the civic body, 2,240 students appeared for the SSC board exams, while 415 students from the five civic-run colleges appeared for the HSC examinations. Out of these, 45 SSC students scored 85 per cent and above. Unfortunately, not a single HSC student was able to attain 85 per cent in the board exams.

Six months later, the administration has, however, failed to felicitate the meritorious SSC students yet, who are eagerly waiting for their reward, which would boost their future educational prospects.

"The scheme was launched by the PMC last year. In the current civic budget, Rs 20 lakh is allotted for this scheme. But, the disbursal requires the approval of all controlling authorities of PMC, and only then we can distribute the funds to the eligible meritorious students," said Meenakshi Raut, PMC education board head (secondary and higher secondary).

"We cannot distribute the prize money immediately after results, as there is a possibility that some students would get more marks after revaluation. This year, there were 44 SSC students who scored more than 85 per cent, but one student was added in the list after the board revaluated his result," said Raut, while justifying the delay.

Meanwhile, the PMC Standing Committee yesterday approved the proposal in this regard. "Since 45 students are eligible under this scheme, the Standing Committee has diverted Rs 2, 95,000 to reward them, said Prithviraj Sutar, PMC Standing Committee member.

When asked why the committee had not approved it after the results were declared, he said, "This is a new scheme started last year only, and the proposal came before the Standing Committee today."

In comparison to last year, the recent development bodes well, as the PMC waited till January 2013 to distribute the prize to last year's meritorious students.

45 The number of SSC students from civic-run schools who secured 85 per cent and above in their board exams u00a0