SCHOLARSHIP TESTS

There are several organizations that conduct scholarship tests in India. If they charge a fee for it, there is something fishy. They may call it Application fee, Registration fee, Test fee etc. A genuine scholarship test should not require a fee.

Organizations that conduct these tests contact school authorities and try to get the maximum number of students to appear for the test. To spread the net wide they admit students from standard IV to standard XII for the test. Some of them advertise in the newspapers. Some are even able to get information regarding their test to appear as news in the media. Maybe they pay more. They may claim to have test centers throughout the country. But once the fee is received they may cancel some centers. This will reduce their expenditure. They inform the candidates that due to unavoidable circumstances the chosen center is not available and that the candidate will have to appear for the test at a far off center. They are not really interested whether or not the candidate appears for the test.

Suppose a fee of Rs.100/- is charged for the test. In a country like India with a large population they can get about 100,000 candidates to apply for the test. So the total amount they receive will be Rs.100, 00,000/-

They may need about Rs.500, 000/- for their expenses which includes test paper preparation and correction, hiring examiners and invigilators, renting examination halls etc. Once the results are announced they may spend another Rs.500, 000/- as scholarship for the students who did well. So their total expenditure will be about Rs.10, 00,000/- and the balance amount of Rs.90, 00,000/- will be their profit.

Usually they invite a Minister or some high government official as chief guest for the scholarship distribution ceremony. After distributing the scholarship the chief guest will give a speech congratulating the winners and praising the organizers for being so generous.