After bringing its schools on a par with the best private players in the education sector, the Delhi Government with the sole purpose of making higher education accessible to the “poorest of the poor” in society has decided to act as their guarantor in bank. Facilitating, educational loans on easy terms from banks for Delhi Government school students belonging to economically weaker section, who want to purse higher education in the State-run universities of Delhi.
The Delhi Government acting as guarantor on their behalf will ensure that higher education of any student is not interrupted just because he or she is not financially well-off to pay for it.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia launched a web portal for Merit-cum-means Income linked Financial Assistance Scheme for students of State Universities of Delhi and also for Modified Delhi Higher Education & Skill Development Guarantee Scheme.
“No one should be devoid of education just because of money. Now the Delhi Government will give guarantee to banks on your behalf and your parents need not worry about it. You just have to go to the portal for it,” said the Chief Minister while speaking at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Dwarka on Friday.
Further, the loans will have to be repaid over a period of 15 years after the completion of course in easy installments, Kejriwal said.
The Chief Minister claimed that since the AAP formed Government, there have been “revolutionary” changes which were being discussed globally and in the country.
“Earlier, Government schools were deliberately being deteriorated in a systematic manner and the entire education sector, be it primary, secondary, colleges and technical, was moving towards privatisation. This is happening for the first time that people are taking out their children from private schools and getting them admitted to Government schools,” the Chief Minister added.
Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia said under the scheme, Delhi Government trust will pay cent per cent fee for those who are beneficiary under National Food Security Scheme, while for those who are not covered under this scheme but family income is up to Rs 2.50 lakh per annum, 50 per cent financial assistance would be provided. While for those whose family income is above Rs 2.50 lakh per annum but not exceeding Rs 6 lakh per annum, 25 per cent of fee assistance would be provided.