Budget announces one lakh scholarships for secondary education

New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) The Union Budget for 2007-08 today announced an ambitious 'National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme' to encourage students to continue their education beyond class VIII.

Under the scheme, one lakh scholarships per year will be given for study in classes IX, X, XI and XII and a like amount would be added to the fund every year over the next three years. Each selected student will get Rs 6,000.

A corpus of Rs 750 crore will be created for the purpose, Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced while presenting the Union Budget.

Selection for elligible candidates will be made through a national test from among students who have passed class VIII.

He said that while the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan had improved enrollment in schools to 96 per cent, the drop out rate continued to be high.

The critical year appeared to be a transition from class VIII to IX. The scholarships to be given were aimed at arresting the drop out ratio and encourage students to continue their education beyond class VIII, Mr Chidambaram said.

The corpus fund would be placed with the State Bank of India and the yield from the fund would be used for awarding the scholarships, he added.

UNI