Thirteen Kashmiri students have been expelled from a Rohtak college because the Ministry of Human Resource Development has not kept up with the payments for their scholarship.
The students, enrolled at the Rohtak Institute of Engineering and Management (RIEM), were awarded full scholarship under the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS).
The college has now asked the students to pay up. “Now that we have completed two semesters, the college management has expelled us from the institution. Also, the management asked us to pay the fee if we want to continue our study,” Nasir Sofi, one of the expelled students, told the Hindustan Times.
They have their exams in a month, but it seems doubtful whether they would be able to appear for them.
The students described how they were first thrown out of the hostel last month after which they were forced to live together in a three-room establishment near the college. They said they were poor students and were unable to pay the college fees, and that their families had been affected by floods in Kashmir two years in a row.
The students had been offered the scholarship under the UPA government after they received more than 60 percent marks in their final school examinations. The scholarship, awarded to students from Jammu & Kashmir, is meant to cover all tuition, hostel and related expenses for the entire duration of their study.
Meanwhile college director Dr Kishor Chawala told HT, “We have expelled the students as the funds have not been provided to the college under the PMSSS,” claiming that the ministry had paid for the scholarship of 10 other students.
“The college authorities have issued a notice to us informing that they have struck us off from the college rolls. We have also been barred from appearing in the examination, our carrier is at stake. The college authorities have deceived us, we have been left to the mercy of God,” said one of the students to Rising Kashmir.
"These students were recruited through some NGOs. When they were recruited for these college, these colleges were not under the requisition of the AICTE. So now they have been expelled," said Priya Sethi, MoS for Education, J&K, to Times Now. She said that she would be bringing up the matter in a government meeting later this month.
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