STATE : Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha officially launched the CM-SATH scheme at Agartala Town Hall on September 23 to boost the educational prospects of the state’s brightest students. The scheme, designed to provide financial support to meritorious students for their higher education, reflects the state government’s commitment to quality education. It is aligned with the Prime Minister’s vision of national development through an enhanced education system.
The Chief Minister said the main objectives of the government in the education sector are – formulation of educational policy and programmes, ensuring implementation of them in a real sense, ensuring quality education and learning process, working for the development of the distressed, poor, tribal people, women and minority section of society, provision of financial assistance, scholarship etc. and implementation of National Education Policy in educational institutions.
The Chief Minister outlined that the CM-SATH scheme will provide financial assistance to 200 students who excelled in the Madhyamik and HS+2 examinations of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education. Among them, the top 100 students in the Madhyamik examination will receive this financial assistance for two years, while another 100 higher secondary students will be supported for three years with the same benefit. Each beneficiary will receive a monthly stipend of ₹5,000 to ensure their studies continue uninterrupted. The beneficiaries will be selected from different administrative levels, including 152 from the block level, 12 from Nagar Panchayats, 26 from Municipality and 10 from Agartala Municipality. To ensure fairness, students will be chosen by the District Education Officers of each district. The financial commitment from the state for this initiative will see an expenditure of ₹1.2 crore in the first year, ₹2.4 crore in the second year, and ₹3 crore annually from the third year onwards.
In addition to the CM-SATH scheme, Manik Saha also highlighted other state government initiatives aimed at strengthening the education system. These include the ‘Super-30’ scheme, which provides financial assistance for the top 30 students in Class X to facilitate quality coaching for competitive exams like NEET and JEE. A sum of ₹5.3 lakh is allocated annually for this project. A centralised question paper system has been launched for the students of classes III to VIII.