The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which conducts the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) every year to select 2,000 scholars from across the country, on Friday announced that the exam this year had been stalled till “further order.”
The scholarship under the National Talent Search Scheme is a coveted one with lakhs of applicants sitting for the state-level exam every year. The selection for this scholarship is a two-tier process with the states and union territories conducting the first-tier screening examination to select and recommend a number of candidates for the national-level examination to be conducted by NCERT. About 5000 candidates sit for the national-level exam. The scholarship continues from Class 10 (Rs 1,200 per month) up to PhD level (as per UGC norms).
This year’s state-level exam which was to be conducted in May has been severely delayed as NCERT is still awaiting the government’s nod for the scheme’s renewal.
“The government is trying to revamp the scheme before renewing its approval. They want more visibility for this scheme in rural areas. That’s taking a little time. It’s not as if the scheme has been scrapped,” an NCERT official told The Indian Express.
According to the official notice by the NCERT, NTSE was approved only till March 31, 2021, and since it has not been approved after that, the scheme has been stalled till further notice.
“The National Talent Search Scheme is a central sector scheme fully funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE) Government of India (Gol). NCERT is an implementing agency for the NTS scheme. The scheme was approved till 31st March, 2021. The further implementation of the scheme in its present form has not been approved and has been stalled till further orders. This is for the information of all concerned,” the official notice reads.
