By Our Reporter
SHILLONG:Around twenty five meritorious students from various educational institutions within the East Khasi Hills District were presented with the Dr Ambedkar National Merit Award for their achievement in the Secondary School Higher Leaving Certificate Examination conducted by MBOSE in the year 2008.
Giving away the awards to these students at the Conference Room at the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, East Khasi Hills here on Friday, Deputy Commissioner East Khasi Hills Jopthiaw Lyngdoh lauded the efforts of the students besides advising them to further strive ahead towards excellence for their better future.
The Dr Ambedkar National Merit Scholarship is a centrally sponsored scheme under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India to recognize, promote and financially assist meritorious students belonging to Scheduled Castes for pursuing higher studies.
The DC in the presence of Additional DC of East Khasi Hills, C Kharkongor awarded these students with a certificate and a cheque with an amount varying according to the positions attained by a particular student.
It may be mentioned here that students attaining the highest marks received Rs 60,000 followed by the 2nd and 3rd position holders with Rs 50,000 and Rs 40,000 respectively.
Whereas, a girl student securing highest mark (In case she is not in the above three categories) received an amount of Rs 40,000.
The disbursement of funds depends on the selection of students by the Board who then sent the names to the Dr Ambedkar Foundation within 15 days of announcement of the examination results, with copy of the Secretary of the Education Department of the concerned State Government. The State Government shall verify and forward the list to the Foundation after which funds will be disbursed to the Board.
The scheme has a total financial implication of Rs.125.88 lakhs per annum. It was said to benefit around 458 students all over the country directly and is of considerable indirect benefit to the students belonging to weaker sections by recognition of merit and academic excellence.