Delay in the opening of a scholarship portal by the BJP government in Rajasthan this year is denting the hopes of several meritorious students who have received admission offers from top foreign universities.
A Scheduled Caste (SC) student with a family income of less than ₹2 lakh per annum told The Telegraph that he had obtained admission to a research programme in a reputed university in the UK, but is steadily losing hope.
The student, who didn’t wish to be identified, said he was counting on the Swami Vivekananda Scholarship for Academic Excellence Scheme (SVSAES) of the Rajasthan government, which is yet to open the portal. He said he had missed the June 30 deadline to submit a declaration to the university that he was capable of managing his expenses.
The Bhajan Lal Sharma–led government has delayed the opening of the scholarship portal by nearly three months this year, plunging into uncertainty the future of several students who have bagged offers from foreign universities for admission into undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD courses in 2025-26.
The scheme awards scholarships to 300 students from the state per year to pursue courses in the top 150 foreign universities ranked by Times Higher Education.
The SVSAES portal was supposed to open on April 1. “If the government had opened the portal in April, I would have confidently informed my university that I can manage my expenses based on this scholarship. I am losing all hope as the process has not even started,” the student said.
He has to register his presence at the university in September and deposit the tuition fee of around ₹45 lakh for the current year by October. Before leaving India, he has to spend around ₹3 lakh for health insurance, air ticket and visa. The scholarship covers all these expenses.
Last year, the government had opened the scholarship portal on May 20, and the first provisional list of successful candidates was released in mid-August. This was followed by document verification and the final award of the scholarship.
“If the government opens the portal now, the provisional list will come in September-October. It will be a very tight situation for the students this year,” he said.
Prof S.K. Sagar, an academic and chairman of the Social Democratic Teacher Front at Delhi University, said a delay in awarding the scholarship amounted to a denial of the benefit. “The delay is a design by the government to deprive the poor meritorious students, particularly from SC, ST and OBC categories, of obtaining quality education abroad. This is an anti-social justice measure,” Sagar said.
An email was sent to Om Prakash Bairwa, commissioner of the Rajasthan college education department, for his comment on the delay. His response is awaited.