Tribal school kids miss class for availing Rs 100/m aid

CHENNAI: Discrepancies in receiving Rs 100, the monthly financial assistance to government tribal residential school students, in many parts of the State has forced students to miss classes to personally visit banks to rectify issues and get the aid.

The State Tribal Welfare Department has been operating residential schools for students belonging to Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC).

They’re given free education, food, and accommodation. As a meagre financial aid, the department has been providing these students with Rs 100 per month for personal maintenance such as haircuts and other hygiene-related activities. This is directly credited into the bank accounts of the students by the department.

However, due to various kinds of discrepancies, students and school managements have stated that there were frequent issues in receiving the money into the account. The reason for this varies from the wrong bank account, bank account number, and names.

But, this has forced students to skip classes so that they can go to the bank themselves.

A student of a residential school said, “Due to issues I am still unclear about, I’m facing difficulty in receiving the amount. I save that money and avoid spending as it will come in handy in the future. For personal maintenance, my parents give me some money.” The headmaster of a residential school said, “We’re forced to send them to banks as the money is more important. Besides, they cannot be sent during weekends. Hence, a proper communication on such regards will rectify these issues.”

Responding to the complaint, an official with the department said, “If it’s a technical issue, we’ll collaborate with banks and rectify them. If it’s anything else, we’ll get in touch with the school managements for uninterrupted cash transfer.”