Higher education should be accessible to all, not just those willing to the debt. Campuses at universities and schools are already very ridiculously expensive. There was a sharp increase in unemployment, and more economic hardship was foreseen. These factors are causing student and their parents to question whether or not they will be able to afford a college education, even if it is offered to them. Additionally, the discontinuation of scholarships will discourage the students of the minority community.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs initiated and provided funding for the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students. Candidates who identify as Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist, Christian, or Jain and are pursuing regular, full-time M.Phil. or PhD degrees in the humanities, social sciences, engineering, or technology are eligible for the program. On December 8, 2022, Smriti Irani addressed the Lok Sabha on Thursday that the Government offers scholarships for graduate study through several programs, including the Maulana Azad National Fellowship.
“All these Schemes, except MANF [Maulana Azad National Fellowship], are open for candidates of all communities including minorities but the data of fellowship distributed among minority students is captured only under the MANF scheme,” Irani said. “Since the scheme overlaps with other fellowships…and minority students are already covered under such schemes, the government has decided to discontinue the MANF scheme.”
All universities accredited by the UGC were included in the MANF, which was established in 2009 to offer five-year fellowships to students from the six notified minority communities of Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Muslim, Parsi, and Sikh. This was accomplished by claiming that the program was cancelled because it conflicted with other fellowships. The program currently offers chosen CSIR-UGC-NET qualifying students a fellowship of Rs 25,000 per month for the first two years and Rs 28,000 per month for the remaining three years.
The Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme was recently restricted to Classes 9 and 10 exclusively (it had previously included all classes from 1 to 10), with the BJP government claiming that the Right to Education Act supports education up to class 8 for all pupils. The award was created to help minority and OBC populations as well as SC, ST, and school children. Additionally, the Government discontinued offering scholarships to minority-aided secondary students in grades one through eight. Almost a month ago, University Grants Commission (UGC) transferred the responsibility of three National Fellowship Schemes to Union Ministries, citing that the concerned ministries would now directly implement these schemes with effect from October 1, 2022. National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste and OBC was taken under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) was given to the Ministry of Minority Affairs. Even then, the students feared that this might lead to the eventual end of their scholarships, which helped them through their MPhil and Ph.D. degrees. Moreover, by increasing Ph.D. seats through the JRF-only route from 32% last year to 41% during the ongoing admission cycle, JNU Admin has already unfairly penalized students receiving MANF, RGNRF, NFSC, NFST, and other schemes apart from JRF.
Since the rise of the BJP in power, there has been a clear indication that the Government would no longer support education as a fundamental right, from introducing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to limiting, diluting, or ending scholarship schemes. All these attacks seemed to affect only the SC, ST, or minorities, especially the Muslims, against whom the Government rides on populist support. It was presented as if Modi is ending the ‘freebies’ given to Muslims, which polarized a large section of the Hindu population towards them. But behind all this, the Modi Government successfully privatized the education sector, leading to huge increments in fees and limited seats across schools and colleges; a concern no longer limited to minorities and affecting all. In these circumstances, the primary culprit driving students out of school and university is a lack of financial resources. We must examine where the nation is going: to where only the wealthy would study, receive an education, and rise to power, while the underprivileged would be sent to skill shops and forced to labor as slaves. Is this the new India under making, or do we still believe in the values of our freedom fighters to make a better India, where education is not a commodity and is free for all? Laments the Maulana Azad National Fellowship’s elimination.
What does discontinued impact?
The two most common causes of education dropouts are financial constraints and the conflict between school and work. By dropping out of college, it affects heavily not only those students but also the entire society. Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students provides financial support to the minority community’s students to encourage them to pursue higher studies such as M. Phil and Ph.D.
According to ‘The Sachar Committee Report ’In the age group of 6 to 14 years, one-fourth of Muslim youngsters either have never attended school or are dropouts” Muslims have a lower educational attainment at matriculation than the national average of 26% for children over the age of 17, which is 17%. Compared to 62% nationally, just 50% of Muslims who finish middle school are likely to go on to finish secondary school. The low levels of education among Muslim women and Muslims in rural regions, as well as in technical and higher education, have also come to light in the report. Under the leadership of Justice Rajinder Sachar, the High-Level Committee has also offered several suggestions for enhancing Muslim populations’ educational standing. Education is already too expensive to pursue, and since there are already a minimal number of students from underrepresented groups (Sc, ST, OBC, and minorities) in higher education, privatizing education and making educational institutions self-sufficient are creating new obstacles. Students from minority communities will become discouraged. Scholarships are discontinued. The Government’s actions are discouraged people from continuing their studies.