DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A QUESTIONNAIRE TO EVALUATE THE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS FACED BY NON-RECIPIENTS OF POST MATRIC SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME

The Indian government has initiated various educational financial assistance schemes both at the National and State level for economically weaker students who cannot bear the consistently hiking cost of education because financial constraints and high cost of education are the prime reasons for high drop-out rates in educational institutions. In 2014-15, the Post Matric Scholarship scheme-Economically Backward Class (EBC) was initiated for general category students whose family income is less than ₹ 1 Lakh. Since its implementation no amount of funds has been released to Punjab state. As consequences, it is possible that in Punjab state students belonging to general category with income less than ₹ 1 lakh may have been facing financial problems to bear the cost of their education. This research paper discussed the procedure followed in developing and validating a questionnaire which will be useful to study the perception of non-recipients of Post Matric Scholarship Scheme (PMSS) about the financial problems they face while covering the expenses of their education on their own due to the non-implementation of such scheme in the state.