West Sikkim lad tops CM’s Merit Scholarship Test 2012

STATE TO INVEST Rs. 685 LAKH ON ALL THREE BATCHES TOTALLING 350 STUDENTS UNDER THE SCHEME
GANGTOK, 29 Jan: Amit Sharma of Lower Bermiok Junior High School in West Sikkim has topped the Chief Minister’s Merit Scholarship Test 2012. Likewise, Sangay Ongmu Lepcha of Taryang Primary School, Kunchuk Ongmu Bhutia of Phodong Senior Secondary School and Passang Dem Lepcha of Mangan Senior Secondary School, all three from North Sikkim, stood second, third and fourth in the merit list.
The Human Resource Development Department conducted the selection test under the scheme on 05 January at all four districts under the strict supervision of the district officials. A total of 454 students turned out for the selection test, which was around 72% of the total attendance.
For the year 2012, the State Government has doubled the number of beneficiaries to 200 from 100 in the previous year. Out of the 200, 40 students are to be admitted to schools outside the state and the remaining 160 in schools within the state.
This unique Chief Minister’s Merit Scholarship scheme was launched by the State Government in the year 2010 to provide equal opportunity for good education to every rural and underprivileged student.
The merit list was announced in a press conference on Saturday, which was addressed by the HRDD Minister, NK Pradhan, HRDD Secretary, CS Rao and other HRDD officials.
The tentative financial estimate calculated on the basis of the present fee structures for sponsoring the total 350 students [50 of the first batch, 100 of the second and 200 of this year’s batch] for the year 2012 is worked out to the tune of Rs 685 lakh by the department.
The HRDD Minister stated that this is a unique scheme in the whole country conceived by the Chief Minister to provide equal opportunity to every student from the remotest part to get the best education. He informed this was the third year of the scheme which started with 50 students and was doubled to 100 last year and this year it has been further increased to 200.
Mr Pradhan stated that the government wants students from rural areas to get an opportunity to mingle with the students of public schools in and outside the state. He further added that the Government has been trying to make the education system easily accessible to the rural students.
“The Chief Minister started this scheme with a great vision so that students will come out with flying colours and this has been appreciated by people from other states,” he added.
The Minister shared that when he met the principals of public schools where students under this scheme were admitted outside the state, they were shocked and greatly impressed with the state government’s initiative for rural students. He also informed that even these schools were happy and satisfied with the students’ performances.
He stressed that the future of Sikkim is in the students’ future and such exposure in their childhood would help in the overall development of the state. The Minister further expressed his best wishes to the 200 students who have made it to the merit list this year.
The HRDD Secretary stated that the counseling date will be announced soon as the department is still in talks with the schools. He informed that as many schools take students through entrance tests, the department has selected 5 boys on the merit list for the entrance test of Welham Boys' School in Dehradun.
Mr Rao informed that the department has already sent these 5 students for the entrance tests and it is hoped that some of them would get through the test.
In its first year in 2010, 50 toppers of class V board examination were selected under the scheme. The first batch of 50 students of class V board examination 2009, comprising of 14 students from East and 12 each from North, South and West districts, were selected and a screening test was held in order to identify the top 10 for admission outside the state. From amongst them, 3 girls were admitted to Pinegrove School in Himachal Pradesh and 7 boys were admitted to Scindia School, Gwalior and the remaining 40 were admitted to public schools within the state. Rs 95 lakh was sanctioned for the year 2010-11 to meet the costs for the scheme.
The government then decided to enhance the number of beneficiaries under the scheme to 100. As per RTE Act 2009, the board examinations for class V and VIII were done away with from the year 2010. Hence a district level screening test was conducted to select the 100 students after obtaining the approval of the government. This test was conducted on 15 December at all four districts and lists of 28 students from East and 24 students each from the rest of the districts were selected under this scheme.
In order to achieve equal representation from all four districts while selecting the top 20 students for admission to schools outside the state, it was decided to select the top 4 students as per the consolidated merit list and 4 each as per the district merit lists.
At present, out of the 150 students [excluding this year’s batch] selected under the scheme, at Pinegrove School in Himachal Pradesh, 3 were admitted in 2010 and 8 in 2011, at Aryan School, Dehradun in Uttrakhand 3 were admitted in 2011 and 7 in 2010 and at Scindia School, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, 7 were admitted in 2010 and 5 in 2011.
Likewise in the state, 10 students in 2010 and 20 in 2011 were admitted to Tashi Namgyal Academy, 11 in 2010 and 24 in 2011 were admitted to St Xavier’s School, Pakyong, 7 in 2010 and 12 in 2011 were admitted to Namchi Public School, 12 in 2010 and 15 in 2011 were admitted to Don Bosco School, Malbasey and 13 students were admitted to St Joseph School, Martam in 2011.  The financial expenditure for sponsoring 150 students for the year 2011-12 was estimated at Rs 270 lakh.