Sportspersons still awaits Scholarships

57^th National School Games

Sportspersons still awaits Scholarships

Yash Khajuria
Jammu, Oct 25: Despite producing their best ever performance accompanied with a record medal haul in various disciplines in the recently concluded 57th National School Games, it has been a long wait for the outstanding sportspersons of the State who have not yet received their scholarships as the Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) is allegedly grappling with shortage of funds.

As per rule, the medallists (outstanding sportspersons) will get a scholarship of Rs 10,000 while the participants in various competitions will get a scholarship worth Rs 1,750.

According to the sources, the State Government every year released additional funds for DYSS to award scholarships to the outstanding sportspersons but an inordinate delay in release of the same has been a major cause of concern for the department which needed an approximate amount of over Rs 15 lakh for awarding scholarships. The sources further claimed that the Directorate of Youth Services and Sports has not even prepare a list of sportspersons who will receive scholarships.

“This is perhaps for the first time that the department has been in such a precarious situation as every year the Government allotted us additional funds before the closing of the Financial Year to award sports scholarships but that was not the case this year”, said one of the officials of DYSS on the condition of anonymity. “Not only the sportspersons but their parents are also raising questions over the delay in awarding scholarships”, he added.

 Meanwhile, Jai Pal Singh, Director, Youth Services and Sports while talking to TNI said “the department is very much aware of the shortage of funds but we have also send a proposal to the State Government mentioning the actual amount needed for awarding scholarships to the outstanding sportspersons”.  “There is nothing serious about the issue as we are hopeful of getting the funds from the State Government soon, but at the moment we did not have received any positive sign from the government’s side”, he maintained.

It is pertinent to mention here that a record 83 medals including 16 gold, 28 silver and 39 bronze have been bagged by the State contingent in the 57th edition of National School Games recently.