Self financing medical seats will become inaccessible for students from poor families due to BPL scholarship crisis

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the end of BPL scholarship, children from poor families will have to forego admission in self-financing medical colleges even if they top the NEET ranks. They are forced to narrow down their options to government medical colleges only. The fees for 85 percent seats at self financing colleges are between Rs 6.61 lakhs to 7.65 lakhs. There is a special fee of up to 86,600. For those who could not afford such a huge fee, government scholarship that covers up to 90 percent of the fee was a big relief.

Those admitted from 2020 have not received the scholarship. As the management has taken a stand that those who do not pay the fee cannot appear for the exam, they are under threat of expulsion. Levying Rs 5 lakh from the fees of NRI students towards scholarship has also been stopped from this year. 30 students have approached the High Court to continue the scholarship. The government has taken a position in the High Court that the scholarship should be continued to avoid the situation where the children of the poor cannot study due to lack of money. However, despite the High Court's decision, no legislation has been made for this. The government has not ruled on the appeal in the Supreme Court against the cancellation of the scholarship.

Questions not answered by the government

1. High Court Justice Devan Ramachandran asked the government how the below poverty line children can pay the fees and whether they would be enrolled in the government medical colleges.

2. How does the government protect these children in case of withdrawal of scholarship?

3. How can BPL children be asked to pay fees?

35 crores

The managements say that Rs 35 crore is yet to be paid each for BPL, Scheduled Caste, OBC and OEC scholarships for each college