The Finance Ministry is currently reviewing the proposal to increase the stipend and travel allowance for students studying in India on scholarships.
The Education Minister shared this recently while honouring some undergraduate scholarship students who returned with gold medals.
Lyonpo JB Rai said the proposed amount for the monthly stipend is Nu 8000 while the new travel allowance will be increased to Nu 5000 against the present stipend of Nu 4500 and travel allowance of Nu 700.
“The cabinet has in fact approved in principle and then the cabinet already asked the Ministry of Finance to now work on it and then present final findings to the cabinet and we are waiting for that. We will be in fact from my side, talking with the Ministry of Finance every time on this, so soon it’s going to come up,” said Jai Bir Rai, the Education Minister.
For now, the cabinet is waiting for the finance ministry’s presentation.
According to the Education Minister, it is high time to revise the stipend since the existing amounts have been in place for about a decade.
“If their travel, food and lodging are not looked after properly, they will be panicking. So ever since we formed the government, we looked after all these areas and now put up the proposal to the higher authorities. As soon as possible, once we get the approval from the cabinet, we will be releasing the budget to them,” Lyonpo added.
Currently, close to 1800 students are studying in various colleges and universities in India including over 500 students through scholarships provided by the Government of India and the Royal Government of Bhutan.
Pema Tshewang
