Merit scholarship for visual art students remains unchanged

The merit scholarship for students studying Visual art in the three government-run institutions in Odisha has not been revised for the last eight years.
It was last increased from Rs 70 to Rs 200 a month in April 2007, teachers and artists said.
"To attract more students to these courses, the government had introduced the scheme. The scholarship is being given to 50 per cent meritorious students," Principal of Government Art and Crafts College, Khallikote, P K Das, said.
The other two colleges in the state are B K College of Art and Crafts, Bhubaneswar and S V Government School for Art and Crafts, Jeypore. All the three colleges are under the culture deparment.

The college had requested the higher authorities to increase the amount on several occasions, he added.
"While the government has revised monthly scholarship and stipend amount in different streams, it has not been a case with art and crafts," said a student of the college.

Considering the present inflation, there is a need to increase the scholarship amount, said Berhampur based artist Basant Patnaik.
"This could be one of the reasons for the poor response to these courses," said B K Mohapatra, a retired lecturer of the college.
After a decade, all 30 seats in the college at Khallikote were filled up this year and the authorities feel steps should be taken to encourage more students to study art and crafts.

Students said since chief minister himself is an artist, he should understand the problems faced by them and consider increasing the stipend amount.