PIB News Update: Extending support to J&K and Ladakh students, AICTE has decided to release the instalment of Rs. 20,000/- as maintenance allowance under Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS). The decision has been taken to support & empower students for completing their online studies.
Under the PMSSS Scheme, the youths of J&K and Ladakh are supported by way of scholarship in two parts namely the academic fee & maintenance allowance. AICTE has already released the entire academic fee for the year 2020-21 to all the institutions. The maintenance allowance had been fully released as per scheme guidelines till the end of last academic year 2019-20. Subsequently due to COVID-19, the academic institutions across India were closed and only online classes are going on. Since there is no hostel & mess expenditure involved, the maintenance allowance was suspended, till such time students physically join the institutes.
However, in order to support & empower students for completing online studies, it has been decided to release the instalment of Rs. 20,000/-. The amount shall be released to all the beneficiaries pursuing classes in Odd Semester (July-December 20). The subsequent instalments shall be released once the students shall join physically at their respective institutions based on the verification of continuation certificate issued by the Institution.
Background:
An Expert Group was constituted by the Prime Minister for enhancing employment opportunity among youths of J&K and Ladakh and formulate job opportunities in public and private sectors. Subsequently, Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) is being implemented by the All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE), New Delhi.
The Scheme aims to build the capacities of the youths of J&K and Ladakh by Educating, Enabling and Empowering them to compete in the normal course. Under the Scheme, the youths of J&K and Ladakh are supported by way of scholarship in two parts namely the academic fee & maintenance allowance. The academic fee is paid to the institution where the student is provided admission after on-line counselling process conducted by the AICTE. The academic fee covers tuition fee and other components as per the ceiling fixed for various professional, medical and other under-graduate courses. In order to meet expenditure towards hostel accommodation, mess expenses, books & stationery etc., a fixed amount of Rs.1.00 Lakh is provided to the beneficiary and is paid in instalments @ Rs. 10,000/- per month directly into students account.