While a total of 18 lakh students from five minority communities applied for pre-matric scholarship from across the state in just a month after its announcement last year, this year only 1,15,000 students have applied so far.

Though the officials of the education department said the ongoing month of Ramadan was the reason for low numbers, education activist claimed lack of awareness and technological glitches faced by the applicants while filling online forms were the reasons responsible for the sharp decline.