Scholarship racket: How private universities are looting poor students

Private universities that have mushroomed in and around Ahmedabad are preying on disadvantaged youth hoping for an education, a student has alleged. 

This student has called for police action against owners of educational institutions, bank officials and other private individuals for misappropriating funds under the Scholarship and Fee Reimbursement Scheme launched by the Centre and implemented by the state government to help impoverished students from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.

“An agent brought me to a Naroda-based private university and paid ₹10,000 for me to get admission. I was served breakfast, shown around the university and then made to sign a consent form for a scholarship. I then received admission into the MDesign programme but have neither attended class nor sat for any exam since then. However, I later received a message stating that a ₹1.46 lakh scholarship had been deposited in a bank account. A subsequent message said that another ₹1.84 lakh had been deposited,” this student said, asking not to be named for fear of retribution. 

Other students also received similar messages, this student added. They have shared a list of 100 students like themselves, who have fallen prey to such scamsters, with Gujarat Samachar Digital. The list also contains details such as the numbers of the “agents” of these universities, two mobile numbers of each student and details of courses they were “admitted” to at universities in Ahmedabad, Dehgam and Dholka.

Further detailing the scholarship-siphoning scam, this student said that the agents use applicants’ documents to activate SIM cards and open bank accounts. 

“The agent activated a new SIM card, which he said would remain with him, and used it to open a new account at a private bank in Ahmedabad, into which the scholarships then got deposited,” the student said. 

An official of the social justice and empowerment department has assured Gujarat Samachar Digital that action will be taken in this matter, but added: “We perform random checking of such admissions and scholarships at the district level but have not heard of any such issues so far. If this continues, we will implement a biometric attendance system from next year, to ensure the problem does not persist.