President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has drawn attention to increasing the Mahapola scholarship provided to university students to Rs. 10,000.
The President has drawn attention to this issue during a discussion held with the Ministry of Finance.
The University Grants Commission had proposed to increase the Mahapola scholarship to Rs. 10,000 a few months ago. However, the Cabinet approval for this had not been received.
Attention has been focused on increasing the Mahapola scholarship, which is currently Rs. 5,000, to Rs. 7,500. Currently, about Rs. 3 billion is spent annually to provide Mahapola scholarships, and an additional amount of about Rs. 2 billion has to be allocated to increase the scholarship to Rs. 7,500.
The University Grants Commission has sent the documents related to the payment of Mahapola allowances to first-year students who have been studying for about a year to the Mahapola Trust Fund, but the payments have not yet begun. Some universities have already received the names of students eligible to receive the allowances.
On average, about sixteen thousand students are eligible to receive Mahapola allowances per year.