Students selected under best available school scheme facing several issues

Students selected under the Best Available School Scheme in Siddipet are facing admission delays due to ePASS portal issues and alleged irregularities in admissions. The Scheduled Castes Department has ordered an inquiry, while affected parents have sought government intervention

Siddipet: Students selected under the Best Available School (BAS) Scheme are facing several difficulties, particularly those selected under the SC Welfare Department. As the managements of the respective schools were unable to register the details of the selected students on the Electronic Payment and Application System of Scholarships (ePASS) portal, they were refusing to admit them, fearing denial of scholarship funds. Under the scheme, poor SC and ST students are selected through a lottery every year to receive free education in identified private schools.

After selection, students have to submit their details and selection letters to the school management, which is required to upload them on the ePASS portal. However, the managements could not upload the students’ details because more students than the permitted number had been selected. Usually, the SC Welfare Department admits 87 students into Class I and 89 students into Class V every year.

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However, some officials, allegedly yielding to pressure from elected representatives, admitted more students than permitted during the last three academic years, and the portal was not allowing their details to be uploaded. Meanwhile, the schools have also not received funds for the past three academic years. One school in Siddipet district has pending dues of Rs 1.40 crore from the department. The school is finding it difficult to provide residential education to the students. Under the scheme, the SC Welfare Department is required to select only residential schools.

However, five schools in Siddipet were also selected under the scheme where students could not avail of residential facilities. The parents of these students submitted a representation to District In-charge Minister and Labour Minister G Vivekananda, seeking his intervention. They also submitted another representation to SC, ST Commission Chairman Bakki Venkataiah, urging him to conduct a review meeting on the issue.

Following the complaints and allegations of irregularities, Joint Director, Scheduled Castes Department, B Srinivas Reddy ordered an inquiry by DD Shoiab Hameed. He is inspecting all the schools to collect details of the number of admissions given to each school every year. Speaking to Telangana Today, he said he would submit a detailed report to the Joint Director by the weekend.

The issue is not confined to Siddipet district, as students are facing similar problems in Medak and other districts as well. Parents in Medak blocked the vehicle of Collector Prathima Singh over the same issue on Tuesday.