A group of students staged a protest outside the Directorate of Higher and Technical Education (DHTE), demanding immediate release of pending scholarship funds. As part of the protest, they locked the main gate of the directorate, alleging prolonged delays in scholarship disbursement despite repeated appeals and representations.

The students launched the protest after the 15-day ultimatum they had given to the department expired. The protest resulted in the department releasing the second and final batch of scholarships for about 21,500 students after the Government of India recently released Rs 5,183 lakh as the second and final instalment.

The department appeared to blame the delay on the state government for not releasing its matching share on time.

It is concerning that the department did not release the funds on time. There should be a fixed timeline for disbursement of scholarships, so that students do not have to protest to receive what is rightfully due to them. The scholarship amount is crucial for students from economically disadvantaged families and should therefore be treated as a priority to ensure they are not adversely affected by such delays.