MYSURU: It is not without reason that the phrase ‘Red Tape’ evokes an almost visceral disdain, and the denial of scholarship to a staggering 19,000 students across the district from classes I to X is bound to add grist to the mill of those who frown at the protracted processes that solving basic problems often entails. The annual scholarship, supposed to be given for the academic year 2018-19, is awarded by the state government. However, the unfortunate students could not collect their rightful rewards owing to a rash of reasons – bank accounts not linked to Aadhaar cards, difference in name of account holder and on Aadhaar cards, entry of name in school documents, et al. On learning about the problem, Mysuru zilla panchayat chief executive officer K Jyothi ordered directions to the officials of the department of public instruction to authenticate the bank accounts of all students entitled to scholarship. Directions were also issued to open accounts for all students in post offices so as to prevent such hassles in the future.

Jyothi, who chaired a review meeting with officials of various departments on Thursday, said that concerted efforts from officials across departments had helped clear the decks for 11,000 students to receive their rightful reward. “Many students are not coming forth to get their Aadhaar cards authenticated, which is hampering our efforts to ensure all of them receive their scholarship,” said Jyothi.

In a bid to prevent such a scenario from arising again, the CEO asked the officials to ensure that Aadhaar details were updated at the schools. “Since teachers are aware of all details pertaining to students, it would work out perfectly,” said Jyothi.

DPI authorities pointed out that students from Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) were among those who had not received the scholarship due to them.

A DPI official said that they were having trouble locating students who had cleared class X in 2019 and were entitled to scholarship. “On the one hand, parents are not keen to pursue Aadhaar authentication seriously since they think that a scholarship of Rs 750 or Rs 1,000 is not a huge sum, while on the other, differences in spellings of their names has given rise to problems in the case of students from minority communities,” the official added.

Block education officer for Mysuru North D Uday Kumar said that a drive would be initiated across the city wherein savings accounts would be opened under the name of students at post offices. “We will have a savings account for children aged below 10, and one for those above. This will ease the process of distribution of scholarship,” he added.

