“By eliminating minority scholarships, a concerted effort is being made to institutionally exclude socially backward communities from the education sector,” said Ms Sumayyah Roshan, President of the Girls Islamic Organisation
Syed Ali Mujtaba
NEW DELHI — The Central Government’s decision to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), which provided scholarships to minority students in higher education, is being vehemently opposed by the Girls Islamic Organisation, a wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind for girl students.
Ms Sumayyah Roshan, President of the Girls Islamic Organisation condemned the Central Government’s move to abolish MANF and called it a blatant injustice to Muslim students in the country.
“By eliminating minority scholarships, a concerted effort is being made to institutionally exclude socially backward communities from the education sector,” Ms. Sumayyah said at a press meet.
The General Secretary of the organisation, Ms. Samar Ali, added: “The previous action of the Central Government to revoke pre-metric scholarships for students up to class 8 is also part of the same discrimination agenda.”
Both office-bearers of the GIO equivocally said that the decision to discontinue the scholarship indicates the government’s ignorance about the socio-economic conditions of the Muslims in India and urged the government to reverse the decision immediately.
The MANF scholarship, implemented in 2009 on the recommendation of the Sachar Committee report, to facilitate the inflow of minority students to premier educational institutions and central universities, enabling the presence of minority voices on these campuses.
Earlier, Union Minister Ms. Smriti Irani defended the government’s decision to discontinue minority scholarships saying that the MANF scheme overlaps several other schemes and hence is being stopped.
The Girls Islamic Organisation of India (GIO) is Jamaat-e-Islami’s student body for girls. It actively works in various states including Rajasthan, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka.
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@kasimjaipurgmail-com