Chief
Minister KCR announced a complete overhaul of Government provided
assistance to students so far being done through fee reimbursements. He
announced that the cabinet decided to scrap fee reimbursement and
introduce a new scheme named ‘Financial Assistance for Students of
Telangana (FAST)’. The
decision came after a month of the all party meet held to discuss the
issue. The all party meet too decided the program needs corrections to
provide help to the right deserving students.
Only students whose families were natives of
Telangana prior to 1956 will be eligible to avail fee reimbursement and
scholarships for professional courses from this year. The Telangana
Cabinet on Wednesday approved 1956 as the cut-off year to determine the
nativity of Telangana students. 1956 was the year when the Hyderabad
state was merged with Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh. Family income
criterion too is considered for the scholarship.
KCR said it is
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu who is delaying
EAMCET counseling by politicizing fee reimbursement and refusing to bear
those of AP students and that he is not the one to be blamed. KCR said
Telangana would provide scholarship and reimburse fees for students from
it’s state whatever State they study and asked what is the harm for AP
CM in following the same procedure.
“On one hand,
he boasts of building a new capital city like Singapore for AP by
spending Rs 1.50 lakh crore. But he doesn’t have money to pay the fees
of Seemandhra students. We are ready to pay the fees of our students
wherever they study. In the same way, we want him to pay the fees of
their students, what’s wrong in this?” Mr Rao asked.
“A
committee will be set up with officials of finance, social welfare and
education departments. They will finalise the modalities on the
certificates or proofs that students need to submit to avail the
benefits. The modalities will be issued shortly,” he said.
Asked
whether the cut-off year will stand judicial scrutiny, Mr Rao said that
there are precedents and previous judgements that upheld States’ rights
to determine residence to extend Govt schemes.
KCR
also said that in united Andhra Pradesh, the fee reimbursement scheme
was a big scam. Several colleges claimed fees with bogus students and
made a lot of money. Telangana
Talkies reported few days ago that last year’s figures indicate the
Govt had paid almost Rs 15000 per year per student and yet colleges
provide education with low quality. Since Telangana
has been formed now, the CM said the program would be corrected and the
Govt.would offer benefits of the scheme only to genuine Telangana
students.
On
the charge that the delay in fee reimbursement policy decision is
making students migrate to other States, the CM shot back
saying why will a student need fee reimbursement in the first place when
he can afford to study in other States!
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