Sonia Krishna|TNN
Hyderabad: A long spiral staircase leads to a classroom tucked away from the hustlebustle of the college in the basement of the building. While students of their age are seen hanging about in the campus, young girls in this class seem to be concentrating on a more important issue: an audit to check whether those like them get the scholarships they legally deserve.
These girls from the Backward Classes are figuring out how exactly the scholarship scheme works and soon one finds that some have not even claimed their scholarship. One of them says she did not know about it, while another says she was late in applying for the same. Asked by the class coordinator if any of them had applied for reimbursement of tuition fees, a few hands were raised.
A year ago, 18 people, accused in the multi-crore BC scholarship scam in 2002, were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.
A year ago, 18 people, accused in the multi-crore BC scholarship scam in 2002, were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.
This seemingly humble interaction between a social worker and a group of young college goers is in fact a first social audit of this scheme in the state.
More than 50 students from four colleges have come forward to be part of this pilot project so far, say the audit leaders adding that the audit is unique as it is being carried out by the schemes’ beneficiaries — the students.
The audit is crucial since unlike before when a limited budget decided the number of students who got the scholarship, the present scheme plans to achieve hundred percent saturation of BC scholarships i.e. reaching out to all the BC students who are in need of the money.
Audit leaders fear that when so much money is put into this, there are chances of the money being misused.
“The students from one college audit the work in another college. In that way bias of any kind can be avoided in the assessment”, says Satyajit Rao Vagvala of Centre for Good Governance. The four colleges that have volunteered to be part of this project are Sri Sarada College, Maharishi College, Mahaboobiya College and Nalla Malla Reddy College.
Hazeera, one of the auditors, says that participating in the exercise has made her stronger, more confident. “It has also improved our language skills and I am more aware of the whole process too.”
The nodal officer of Sri Sarada College, Pawan Kumar says, “The social audit has brought about awareness among the students as to what will happen if they don’t claim their scholarships.”
The audit is being done by the BC Welfare Organisation, CGG and CARPED and has been initiated as a pilot project.
More than 50 students from four colleges have come forward to be part of this pilot project so far, say the audit leaders adding that the audit is unique as it is being carried out by the schemes’ beneficiaries — the students.
The audit is crucial since unlike before when a limited budget decided the number of students who got the scholarship, the present scheme plans to achieve hundred percent saturation of BC scholarships i.e. reaching out to all the BC students who are in need of the money.
Audit leaders fear that when so much money is put into this, there are chances of the money being misused.
“The students from one college audit the work in another college. In that way bias of any kind can be avoided in the assessment”, says Satyajit Rao Vagvala of Centre for Good Governance. The four colleges that have volunteered to be part of this project are Sri Sarada College, Maharishi College, Mahaboobiya College and Nalla Malla Reddy College.
Hazeera, one of the auditors, says that participating in the exercise has made her stronger, more confident. “It has also improved our language skills and I am more aware of the whole process too.”
The nodal officer of Sri Sarada College, Pawan Kumar says, “The social audit has brought about awareness among the students as to what will happen if they don’t claim their scholarships.”
The audit is being done by the BC Welfare Organisation, CGG and CARPED and has been initiated as a pilot project.
source : Times of India 3 Sep 2008
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[...] social audit that allowed Backward Class students to claim scholarships promised to them (http://carped.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/pilot-project-on-bc-scholarship-audit/), a mix of education, awareness and health camps that assisted the Gangireddula community [...]