Prolonged internet shutdown hits Kashmir students who qualified MHRD’s scholarship test

Srinagar: Nearly three hundred students who qualified scholarship test for the National Merit-cum Means Scholarship (NMMS) are facing delay in submitting their credentials due to prolonged internet blackout in the Valley.
The students have to submit their details on the National Scholarships Portal (NSP) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
Two hundred sixty three students qualified the scholarship test for the academic session 2018-19 and they will be entitled to Rs 1000 per month from class 9 to 12. This includes 111 students, who had qualified the scholarship test last year and 152 additional students in September under special arrangement.
The online verification of the selected students’ credentials is done by the MHRD at three levels –individual candidate, the respective school he/she is enrolled at and the concerned Chief Education Officer.
Due to internet blackout coupled with suspension of SMS, the registration of the students has been stuck at all the three levels, they said.
“Even if a student manages to register online on the portal, it won’t work due to the suspension of SMS service as it requires a One-Time Password (OTP),” an official said.
An official source at Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE), which is the Nodal Agency for the NMMS in J&K, told Kashmir Reader they had taken up the issue with the concerned MHRD officials.
In the face of internet shutdown, the official said, they had sought a concession so that students could register their credentials physically.
“But there has been no response from the MHRD as on date,” the official added.
J&K government’s official spokesperson, Rohit Kansal said the social welfare department “might have done something” to facilitate the students.
The Valley is facing internet shutdown on all platforms since the government of India abrogated the special constitutional status and downsized J&K into a Union Territory on August 5.

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