The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Thursday threatened to close down the Secretariat if the government fails to credit the scholarship to the respective bank accounts of the students.
Hundreds of students from different colleges and universities joined the protest staged by HYC outside the Shillong Law College against the delay of the government to release the scholarship of 2021-2022 to the students.
HYC education secretary Enlang Sawian said that even though the education department had come out with an order to release the scholarship for the year 2021-2022 yet as students they will not believe until and unless the amount is credited to their respective accounts.
Sawian said from time to time the state government under the leadership of chief minister Conrad K Sangma had lied to the people of the state and now to the students hence the council along with students from across will not believe the words coming out from the government or concern ministers.
“We will give six days’ time to the state government to deposit the scholarship amount to the bank accounts of the students failing which, we will again intensify our agitation to the extent of even locking the secretariat,” said Sawian.
Meanwhile, general secretary of HYC Roykupar Synrem said that the council will always support the students or teachers community as it wants to see that Meghalaya as a whole comes out on top when it comes to education.
Synrem said that as per RTI reports, the central government since 2021 has already released the fund meant for scholarship of the students but it is sad to see that the state had kept the funds meant for students till 9 November 2022.
“It is sad to see that the state government decided to release the scholarship of the students only when the HYC came out with statement to hold public rally which indicates that this government is not bother about the welfare of the students or is not bother to uplift the education system in the state” said Synrem.
Synrem claimed that there are students across the state especially those who come from poor families and those who depend on scholarships who had to drop out from schools as they are not able to pay their school fees or college fees.
He added that it is alarming to see that the government has enough funds to organize various festivals but does not have funds to release the scholarship which is meant for the welfare of the students and to encourage them to continue with their education