Students left in lurch as AAP Govt sits on loans

While admissions are in full swing, students applying for graduate and postgraduate courses in Government and private colleges have no idea about the procedure to apply for loans under ‘Higher Education Credit Guarantee Scheme’ launched by the Delhi Government recently. The AAP Government has yet to come up with the procedure to apply for loans.

The AAP Government approved an education scheme under which loans of up to `10 lakh will be provided to students pursing higher education in the national Capital but failed to convert their plan into action. 

Sources have said that the Government has not charted out the procedure for students to apply for these loans. The Delhi Government website also does not contain any necessary information about procedure to get loans under ‘Higher Education Credit Guarantee Scheme’. The scheme will also be applicable for ITIs and polytechnic colleges. 

Students and parents have been running from pillar to post in universities to find out the exact procedure for the loans. “I want to take admission in MSc Physics, so I looked round the university and on Delhi Government website to find out the exact procedure. But to my disadvantage, I found out that there was no information available on procedure to apply for these loans,” said a student of the Delhi University.

“We do not know which bank to go to or how to get these loans,” she said.According to a senior Government official, students pursuing any skill development course or diploma or degree course after finishing qualifying examination from any school and educational institution in Delhi are eligible under this scheme. Under the ‘Higher Education Credit Guarantee Scheme’, students would be provided loans up to `10 lakh without any collateral or third party guarantee or margin money. There would be no processing charges for the same. 

In the run up to the last Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised that students, who wish to pursue any diploma or degree course after finishing Class XII from any school in Delhi will be given bank loans with the Government standing as a guarantor. 

The scheme covers all recognised degree and diploma, skill development courses of approved institutions through entrance test and merit based selection.