Hyderabad: The Telangana government has exempted Scheduled Castes students from securing stipulated marks in TOEFL, IELTS, GRE, GMAT etc., to avail its “Ambedkar Overseas Vidya Nidhi” scheme, which provides financial assistance to SC students for pursuing higher studies in post-graduate courses in foreign universities. A valid score in these exams would be enough to gain eligibility as per the revised norms.
The government gives a grant of Rs 10 lakh to SC students to take admissions in foreign universities under the scheme. The government had issued orders in April 2015 mandating students to have a TOEFL score of 50 or IELTS score of 6.5 or GRE score of 280 or a GMAT score of 550.
However, on Tuesday it issued revised orders stating that students should only have a valid score.
The Congress government in undivided AP had introduced the scheme in 2013 with no stipulated marks for students. In 2015, the TS government had prescribed minimum marks after which it was observed that a large number of students, who were applying to varsities without getting the minimum scores, were getting admissions in the US. But in the I-20s issued to them, it was mentioned that these students had to take up English proficiency courses before attending classes in US colleges for which they had to pay substantial fees and also wait till they became proficient in English to commence regular courses.
This was causing an additional financial burden on the candidates, who hail from below poverty line families. “The minimum marks resulted in only a handful of students getting selected for the scheme. Besides, there are several other opportunities in other countries barring US, in which a valid score in these exams is enough for admissions. Such students can utilise this scheme,” said welfare minister Jogu Ramanna.
He said students could also secure admissions in US varsities with a valid score but they needed to undergo an English proficiency course for which they had to bear the expenses on their own.
“It’s up to the students whether to opt for US or other countries. The government wants to encourage more and more students from SC category to pursue foreign studies,” he added.
