Bagmati Province Government Provides Technical Higher Education Scholarships to 7 Marginalized Students

Makwanpur. The Bagmati Province Government has provided technical higher education scholarships to 7 students from marginalized and impoverished families. The scholarships were distributed on Tuesday in Lalitpur during a program organized as part of the educational scholarship program aimed at expanding access to technical education among students from impoverished communities, with the first phase of selected students receiving them. The scholarship program was implemented by the Social Development Ministry after the first cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Indra Bahadur Baniyan, announced it, issuing the 'Educational Scholarship Directive, 2083'. According to this directive, students who passed SEE from community secondary schools, are permanent residents of the Bagmati Province, and have been recommended as belonging to impoverished or marginalized communities by the relevant bodies were deemed eligible for the scholarships. Applications were invited based on a notice published in Gorkhapatra on Jestha 27, and the selection was made based on merit and the directive's criteria. Out of seven technical fields for which applications were invited, only 7 students were selected in four fields. Among those selected are Shriram Bhatta from Nuwakot Belkotgadhi for Medical Doctor, who will study at Madan Bhandari Health Science Institute Hetauda. For Civil Engineering, Matrika Chepang from Chitwan and Arshim Shrestha from Kavrepalanchok have been selected. They will study at Nepal Polytechnic Institute and Khwopa Engineering College respectively. For Veterinary Doctor, Lalita Tamang from Nuwakot and Vishal Tamang from Kavrepalanchok have been selected, and they will study at Himalayan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Kirtipur. For Agriculture, Utsav Pradhan from Makwanpur and Niruta Yogi from Dolakha have been selected. They will study at Hetauda Janapriya Campus and School of Agriculture Tikauli Kailali respectively. The directorate stated that no applications were received for the fields of Ayurveda Doctor, Information Technology Engineering, and Staff Nurse. A selection committee headed by the Director-General was formed to manage the scholarships. The government has made arrangements to directly send the tuition fees of the selected students to the bank accounts of the respective educational institutions. The scholarship amount, provided for undergraduate studies, will be paid in three installments of 35, 40, and 25 percent. Another important aspect of this program is the service condition. After completing their studies with the scholarship, students will be required to serve as volunteers in public service sectors within the Bagmati Province for a minimum of one year and a maximum of two years. Speaking at the program, Chief Minister Baniyan stated that the provincial government has expanded the scholarship program for marginalized and poor students not covered by federal policies. He discussed the provincial government's efforts to include subjects not covered by the federal government's policies through its own policies, clarifying that the government is working to end the situation where students have to drop out due to financial constraints or study on loans. Comparing with the past governance system, Chief Minister Baniyan said, 'In the past unitary state system, in the system of kings and emperors, during the reign of kings, during the Rana regime, there is no history of a Chepang's son becoming a minister. And this kind of scholarship distribution was less in the past. Today, it has increased. Tomorrow, municipalities may follow what we have done. The federal government made a policy, and there is a scholarship available under that policy. We have tried to include subjects not covered by the federal government's policy through the provincial government's policy. Because the inability to pay but the desire to study, having to study on loans, the burden of loans falling on parents has caused problems for citizens, so strive for your life, the Bagmati government is here to educate your children. With this, we have started scholarships. We wish you a bright future.' The Chief Minister expressed confidence that the provincial government views this program not just as financial assistance but as a long-term human capital development plan, which will contribute to producing skilled manpower needed for the province.