SHILLONG: The UDP Shillong City has voiced serious concern over the confusion among the student community over the new system of online application for post-matric scholarship for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.
“This new system is creating various kinds of problems for the student community,” UDP Shillong City working committee chairman Jemino Mawthoh said in a representation submitted to the Director of Higher and Technical Education here on Tuesday last.
He said that most students do not have accessibility to the internet, be it at home or in their institutions, and adding that they have to visit a cyber cafe and ask the owner to apply for them or they have to do it by themselves.
“We have noticed that many cyber cafes in the city are packed with students applying for scholarships, each student queuing up for their turn to come. As a result, most students have to skip their important lessons in the class, i.e. tests, projects, assignments and even meals,” Mawthoh said. He said that there are cases which are more technical in nature, i.e. lack of network connectivity, slow response of online registration, login problems, missing of barcode when printing the Scholarship Report and many other technical problems, which are alien to the computer illiterate.
He also said that students have not been prepared for filling up the required details in the form leading to rejection of hundreds of applications by the institutes.
“The main problem here is that students of the same institution fill up different dates, i.e. date of admission, date of enrolment. Furthermore, students mistake the registration number with that of their class roll number while filling up the required enrolment number. Thus, a single mistake leads to rejection of their application,” Mawthoh said adding that the rejected application has added more tension to the students especially those who are currently appearing their selection examinations.
Meanwhile, he said that filing an affidavit causes financial problems to the parents, especially to those having more than one child.
Mawthoh also urged upon the department to extend the last date of online application, scheduled on November 30.
“All institutions should be provided with free internet services, coupled with proper dissemination of information, on steps to be undertaken, to ensure validity of the application. This will help the students to attend their classes, assignments, projects, tests, and other academic activities regularly, without wasting much time on the said application,” he further said.
He said that for those who have failed to register should be given another chance and all deserving students must receive their scholarships.