Kerala govt's Kedavilakku scheme: Minority communities remain ineligible

Malappuram: Candidates from religious minorities remain ineligible for the newly introduced Kedavilakku scholarship of the Backward Classes Development Department. The scholarships intend to aid students from Other Backward Class (OBC), who are studying in classes 1-8, either in government or aided schools.   

A detailed notification has been issued clearly specifying the 47 minority categories who are eligible for the scholarship. Notably, none of the religious communities from Muslim and Christian groups have been included in the list. Usually, in the welfare schemes implemented in the state, religious minorities including Muslims are encompassed in the OBC category.

The state government was forced to introduce the Kedavilakku scholarship after the pre-matric scholarship partially funded by the union government (50 pc) was restricted to only the students studying in classes 9 and 10. Earlier the scholarship was provided for classes 1 to 10. On top of this, the central government also scrapped its exclusive pre-matric scholarship for minority students recently.

The central government’s decision to scrap its pre-matric scholarship forced the state government to announce a new scholarship for the students. Strangely, when the Kedavilakku scholarship was announced, there were no provisions for any of the backward groups among religious minorities. In fact, candidates from religious minorities were specifically told not to apply for the scholarships.

Confusion and misinformation surrounding the scholarship have left both the parents and students in disarray. Even teachers are not well informed about the whole criterion involved. On the other hand, students eligible for the scholarship are now running from pillar to post for procuring documents pertaining to their castes, incomes, and marks, so that they can forward their applications.