The All-India Survey on Higher Education was started in India in 2010–11. The Ministry has been conducting All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) since 2011, covering all higher educational institutions located in Indian Territory and imparting higher education in the country. These surveys are conducted by the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of HRD. One of the main objectives of this survey is to gain a full understanding of higher education in the country. The survey covers all the institutions in the country engaged in imparting higher education. Data is being collected on several parameters, such as teachers, student enrolment, programmes, examination results, education finance, and infrastructure. Indicators of educational development such as institution density, gross enrolment ratio, pupil-teacher ratio, gender parity index, and per-student expenditure will also be calculated from the data collected through AISHE. These are useful in making informed policy decisions and conducting research for the development of the education sector.
According to a report by the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), the number of Muslim students enrolling in higher education in India has dropped in 2020–21. Its reports show that the number of students from the Muslim minority community decreased to 19.21 lakh (4.6 percent) in 2020-21 from 21 lakh (5.5 percent) in 2019-20. Political analyst Subhamoy Maitra explained that these figures might be looked at from an economic perspective. “Since Muslims are among the communities that are economically lagging behind comparatively, due to the increasing trend of privatisation in higher education, students from the community are getting fewer opportunities.” “In the states where the enrolment has improved, there may be a little more state-run higher education institutions and fewer private institutes,” Prof. Maitra said. He added that one may argue that West Bengal, Kerala, and Telangana have a pro-poor, liberal, and leftist tradition as far as education is concerned, and thus there might be a slightly different trend. Also, the contribution percentage of other minorities, such as Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, and Zoroastrians (Parsis), is down by 0.3 percent; in the previous academic year, it was 2.3 percent.
This year, some concerning decisions have been taken by the centre. The Government of India announced the discontinuation of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), a fellowship for minority students in India pursuing an M.Phil. or Ph.D., on December 8. According to Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani, the MANF scheme is being discontinued because it “overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education.” MANF is a fellowship for economically weaker students from minority communities. It covered all institutions recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Students from six notified minority communities—Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Parsi, and Sikh—received financial help from the scheme for higher education in MPhil and Ph.D. programs. Moreover, the argument that the MANF overlaps with other similar schemes does not stand ground and is baseless, because a fellowship distribution system is already in place, under which a student cannot avail more than one fellowship. The decision to withdraw the MANF is part of the BJP regime’s “anti-minority” attitude. It is an “unfair” decision and reeks of discrimination against minority rights.
On November 25, 2022, the government discontinued, in part, the 21-year-old Begum Hazrat Mahal pre-matriculating scholarships for minorities for classes 1 to 8, retaining them only for classes 9 to 12. The government justified its stand by saying that the Right to Education Act (RTE Act) covers compulsory education up to class 8 for all students.
In a notice issued on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), it states that “The Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009” makes it obligatory for the government to provide free and compulsory elementary education (classes I to VIII) to each and every child. Accordingly, only students studying in classes IX and X are covered under the pre-matric scholarship scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. “Likewise from 2022–23, the coverage under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs shall also be for classes IX and X only,” the notice stated. “The Institute Nodal Officer (INO)/District Nodal Officer (DNO)/State Nodal Officer (SNO) may accordingly verify applications only for classes IX and X under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs,” it stated. On January 14, the ministry also discontinued the “Padho Pardesh Scheme.” Students belonging to minority communities can no longer avail themselves of interest subsidies on education loans to study abroad. Under the Padho Pardesh Interest Subsidy Scheme, students who belong to minority communities (including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis) and want to pursue higher studies such as a master’s degree, MPhil, or Ph.D. abroad are eligible to obtain interest subsidies on their entire loan amounts for a specified time period (the course period plus one year or six months after getting a job, whichever is earlier).
The Indian Government is cancelling out the opportunities for the minority and, in a way, denying their basic right to education. Through these decisions, the government is stopping a huge section of society from making its contribution to building a nation. Discontinuation of MANF, pre-matric scholarships, and the Padho Pradesh scheme is an acute political decision. It is part of the continuous attempt to target one section of society. As a result, these decisions will definitely have an impact on the representation percentage of minority communities in higher education.
The scholarship schemes face implementation issues with poor beneficiary coverage, low unit costs due to inadequate allocations of funds, and the scrapping of some of the schemes. The amounts given to students as scholarships are not adequate to meet their educational expenses either. Due to the poor utilisation of funds, students may be receiving their scholarships only towards the end of the academic year. While 58 lakh students received the scholarships provided by the Ministry of Minority Affairs in 2020–21, during the same year, 1.10 crore applications were received for the three scholarship schemes. Of this, 47.5% were deprived of scholarship benefits. As for the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme, only 36.7% of the total applicants received their scholarships that year. As per the reports, the total budget of the Ministry of Minority Affairs as a proportion of the total Union Budget declined to 0.12% in 2022–23 from 0.14% in 2021–22, according to budget estimates. The Ministry of Minority Affairs was allocated RS 5,010 crore in 2022–23 (budget estimate), whereas the 2021–22 (revised estimates) figure stood at RS 4,246.05 crore. The ministry utilised RS 3,920.29 crore in 2020–21 (actuals) against the budget estimate figure of RS 5,029 crore for that year.
Additionally, it seems that Union Budget outlays have not been provided in accordance with the demands for funds by the ministry. For 2019-20, against demands from the ministry, only RS 4,700 crore was allocated. In 2020-21, RS 6,452 crore was demanded, but only RS 5,029 crore was allotted.
The schemes mentioned were conceptualised to bridge the gap between the minority under privileged and the rest populace to increase their access to quality education. Minority scholarships have been playing an important role in helping to expand the pool of students and create a more diverse environment on college campuses. The scholarships were targeted and provided to the financially backward communities who can’t afford school and college fees. This was the primary purpose of minority scholarships.
Acknowledging that India’s budgetary allocation towards education is already too less, and when it comes to scholarships and fellowships, with whatever provisions we have, a decision like this is going to hit very hard the minority communities who were getting something out of it. Rather than blatantly discriminating against the rights of minority students the Government should concentrate on schemes and scholarships that can provide the basic needs of the minority community and allow them to maximise the outputs.
