Free coaching for SC students under Delhi Government’s scheme

Students with a total family income of not more than Rs 6 lakh per annum are eligible for coaching under the scheme. Read below for more details…

The Delhi government’s scheme is set to expand with a hike in financial assistance per student from Rs 40,000 to up to Rs 1.5 lakh, a larger kitty of private institutes, and an extension of coaching duration to one year. This is for students belonging to SC category taking various competitive exams, including IAS.

The scheme, Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana, was launched in December 2017. According to the media reports, Social Welfare Minister, Rajendra Pal Gautam said that the expansion of the scheme is expected to get Cabinet approval this week. Students with a total family income of not more than Rs 6 lakh per annum are eligible for coaching under the scheme.

In 2018-19, a total of 4,953 students had availed coaching from eight institutes under the scheme. This number includes 945 UPSC aspirants and 3,100 SSC candidates. The total number of engineering and medical aspirants were 47 and 58 respectively, out of which 13 students cleared JEE MAIN and 22 students qualified NEET.

Currently, the upper limit of financial assistance is Rs 40,000. Once approved, engineering and medical aspirants will get Rs 1 lakh each and UPSC aspirants will get an assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh. For bank PO and related exams, it will be Rs 50,000 and SSC aspirants will get Rs 25,000 aid each. Apart from financial assistance towards coaching, beneficiaries are also paid a stipend of Rs 2,500.

For 2019-20, an allocation of Rs 40 crore has been made for the scheme. Gautam said the government is also likely to soon clear a scheme for funding higher education of SC students abroad.