The parents of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students pursuing higher education in foreign countries beat themselves with footwear in front of the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar statue here on Wednesday as a mark of protest against the delay in the release of scholarships.
The State government has not released the scholarships promised under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme for the past two years, they said.
Minutes after MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy and Collector Gandham Chandrudu garlanded the statue on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar , the parents staged the protest.
Supported by the Jai Bheem Dalit organisation, the parents of several students from Anantapur district raised slogans against the State government alleging that it had reneged on the promise to partially fund the higher studies of their wards in foreign countries and this had had put the students in a tight spot.
“My daughters are studying in the same university in the United Kingdom as the Chief Minister’s child . We have not received the ₹10 lakh assistance promised, which was increased to ₹15 lakh later,” said Anand, a parent.
Mr. Anand said one of his daughters was pursuing the Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) and the other was doing her masters in science. “Help was assured for one of my daughters by the State government and we got the e-pass too. But the scholarship amount is yet to be released. I am not in a position to support the studies of my both daughters. Things have come to a pass that my children may have to return India,” he added.
About 2,500 students who are studying abroad had applied for the scholarship and 560 students have been waiting for the amount to be released and among them, 43 are from Anantapur district, said the reperesentatives of the Jai Bheem Dalit organisation.
