Owaisi extends SSC fee aid to students

HYDERABAD AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi distributed assistance for Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination fees to nearly 1,700 students from Government Urdu Medium Schools in Hyderabad. The programme was sponsored by the Majlis Charities Educational and Relief Trust. The Trust had earlier distributed nearly 12,000 educational kits, including school bags, long books and guide sets, to students in Classes 6 to 9 in September. In October, it provided All-in-One study material to around 8,000 Class 10 students across Telangana. About Rs 86 lakh is being spent on educational assistance this year. Over 21 years, the Trust has spent nearly Rs 10.50 crore on educational kits, examination fees, cash awards for SSC toppers and study materials for underprivileged students. Addressing the gathering, Owaisi said the Gross Enrolment Ratio for Muslims was 40 per cent, while Telangana recorded 36 per cent, which he described as the highest among Indian states. He criticised the Centre for discontinuing pre-matric, post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarships for Muslim students over the past four years. He questioned the government’s explanation that the decision was linked to alleged corruption during Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s tenure and an ongoing CBI inquiry. Owaisi cited education data showing Muslim dropout rates of 8 per cent at the primary level, 6 per cent at the secondary level and 4 per cent in higher education. He also referred to Uttar Pradesh government figures for 2021-22, which recorded higher rates of 17.3, 12.6 and 11.7 per cent respectively. He said more than 300 villages in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal lacked schools. He urged school principals and headmasters to counsel students on higher education, help them select suitable streams for Intermediate and guide their academic decisions.