The ambitious Gyan Setu day school programme was abandoned by the Gujarat education department after vehement opposition from numerous teachers and school administrations, and Mukhyamantri Gyansetu Merit Scholarship Yojana was introduced in its place.
Under the new scheme, 30,000 bright students will be given scholarships from Class 6-12 every year.
According to the government, the scheme was cancelled as it felt that under the existing criteria, there was an imbalance in the distribution of schools across districts. “After scrutiny of applications from private and grant-in-aid schools, it was realised that there is more than one school with the required criteria in one taluka but not more than one school can be selected for the scheme. Also, while in many talukas, on the basis of Class 10 results, there were limited schools. Thus, with the objective of providing options to bright students in his (/her) own or other districts as per his (/her) choice the need to reconsider the GR was felt,” the new Government Resolution issued June 7 states.
The four PPP-based schemes — Gyan Setu Day Schools, Gyan Shakti Residential School, Gyan Shakti Tribal Residential School, and Raksha Shakti Residential School — have been met with vehement opposition from numerous associations of teachers, principals, and school managements.
A student must have completed Class 4 in one school, whether it was government, privately funded, or self-financed, in order to be eligible for the scholarship. A common entrance exam will be used to select eligible students, as it was for the Gyan Setu Day schools.
The scholarship programme provides private school students in grades 6 through 8 with an annual scholarship of Rs 20,000, Rs 22,000 for grades 9 and 10, and Rs 25,000 for grades 11 and 12.
Similarly, for government or grant-in-aid schools, the selected student will get Rs 5,000 from Class 6 to 8, Rs 6,000 for classes 9 and 10 and Rs 7,000 for classes 11 and 12.