Date:09/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/09/stories/2008060954090600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

A.P. sops for minority students

Special Correspondent

Government to bear complete cost of professional education

Post-matric scholarships for eligible students
Target of 1,000 jobs fixed for students this year

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday announced that the State Government would bear the complete fee for minority students for all 16 professional courses and ‘leave no stone unturned’ to ensure that four per cent reservation for Muslims was enforced.

Speaking after inaugurating a Special Training Programme (STP) centre for minority engineering graduates organised by the State Government, Institute for Electronic Governance, Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKC), Infosys and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, he said the main objective of SPT was to enhance employable skills. He recalled how he was taken aback in 2004 when officials told him that the budget for scholarship of minorities was Rs. 4 crore. In the subsequent year, the government hiked it to Rs. 10 crore and then to Rs. 30 crore for 2006-07 and Rs. 90 crore in 2007-08 and now it was decided to adopt the saturation approach with Rs. 120 crore earmarked during 2008-09. Every eligible minority student would be given post-matric scholarship. A centre similar to the one inaugurated on Sunday would be started in Urdu Bhavan at Moti Galli, on a request by MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

Dr. Reddy said a totally innovative programme was started through JKCs to impart employable skills to students since only 20 per cent of those passing out of engineering colleges were landing jobs. So far, 55,000 students got jobs in the IT sector since the initiative was taken up and the number of JKCs operating on campuses of engineering colleges now stood at 650 across Andhra Pradesh.

Minister for Minorities Welfare Mohd. Ali Shabbir said Dr. Reddy, on learning that only two per cent of those who secured jobs in IT companies belonged to SCs, STs and minorities, wanted an STP to be conducted for them. He said a target of 1,000 jobs was fixed for minority students this year.