Mahatma Gandhi Scholarships awarded to 150 Sri Lankan students

150 students of Srilanka from all 25 districts were awarded the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi scholarships for study in India. The Scholarships were awarded by Sri Lankan Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam and Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu at a special ceremony in Colombo.

Mahatma Gandhi Scholarships

The Mahatma Gandhi Scholarships are merit-cum-means based Scholarship instituted in 2006-07 for Sri Lankan students and is awarded annually by the High Commission of India in cooperation with the Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka.
Recipients of the Mahatma Gandhi Scholarships receive cash assistance during their two years of Advanced Level studies. The High Commission of India has increased the scholarship amount from Rs. 2,000 to 2,500 per month from 2015-16 onwards and accordingly; this year’s awardees will receive Rs. 30,000 annually during their two years of ‘Advanced Level studies. The Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship has benefitted more than 1,100 meritorious students since its inception in the year 2006.

Other Initiatives of India to boost the Education in Sri Lanka

India and Sri Lanka have a robust relationship and India is taking giant steps to help the education sector of Sri Lanka. They include:

• India is constructing new classrooms in 27 schools in the North.
• India handed over the largest University Auditorium in Sri Lanka in the University of Ruhuna, in the South.
• India has provided assistance for the new trilingual school in Polonnaruwa and Saraswathy College Kandy.

The government of India is also providing opportunities to young Sri Lankans to study in reputed Indian Institutions of higher education through more than 270 scholarships per year, besides providing 370 short-term training slots every year to working professionals from Sri Lanka under ITEC programme.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2019