Delhi's Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam​​​​​​​ to fund education of daily wager's daughter

Delhi's Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam will bear the educational expenses of the 19-year-old daughter of a daily wager who has secured admission to the Lady Hardinge Medical College here after clearing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), officials said on Monday.

Shashi is the first woman to have secured admission to college after availing free coaching under the Delhi government's scheme, 'Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana'.

"I have never felt so good. Besides my two sons, I now have a daughter too. I will bear all the expenses of Shashi's education," Gautam said. "Students like Shashi have cleared tough examinations and secured admission to prestigious government institutions. Certainly, they can do achieve a lot in their lives. Lack of funds should not be an impediment in their education," he said.

Shashi's father, 47-year-old Akhilesh Kumar Gaur, who quit education after class 12, earns Rs 400 per day for plastering walls. Her mother never attended school. On Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that a resident of the national capital has decided to sponsor the education of Vijay Kumar who had secured a seat in IIT-Delhi after availing the government's free coaching scheme.

The aim of 'Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana', which was launched in 2017, is to provide free quality coaching for economically disadvantaged candidates for various competitive and entrance examinations. Earlier, only meritorious Dalit students were eligible for availing free coaching. The government recently extended the scheme to economically weaker candidates from other backward castes and the general category, too.

Of the 107 students who got free coaching for engineering and medical entrance exams under the 'Jai Bhim Mukhyemantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana', 13 have been declared successful in the JEE Main and 22 in NEET.