Gandhinagar: More than 4.7 lakh students across Gujarat received scholarships and educational assistance worth over Rs 646 crore through direct benefit transfer at a function held in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.Chief minister Bhupendra Patel, who disbursed the assistance, said education remained central to Gujarat’s development and called upon society to work alongside teachers to improve learning outcomes.Under the Namo Lakshmi scheme, more than 4 lakh girls who cleared their Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations received over Rs 513 crore. Another Rs 28 crore was transferred to more than 57,000 students who passed the Class 12 science stream examination under the Namo Saraswati Vigyan Sadhana scheme.A further Rs 105 crore was distributed under various scholarship and incentive schemes, including the Mukhyamantri Yuva Swavalamban Yojana, SHODH, Mukhyamantri Scholarship Scheme and Mukhyamantri Kanya Kelavani Nidhi Yojana. Of this, Rs 96 crore was given to 7,260 students, while Rs 9 crore was provided as grants to 48 institutions.Patel said the Namo Lakshmi and Namo Saraswati schemes have encouraged more girls to pursue science and higher secondary education. He said the govt was also identifying children who had dropped out of school and taking steps to bring them back into the education system.
