The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Fee reimbursement boon for minority students

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Monday, Jul 12, 2010
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Fee reimbursement boon for minority students

J.S. Ifthekhar

Hyderabad: It might create a hole in the State exchequer, but the post-matric scholarship and fee reimbursement scheme has done a world of good to minority students.

Apart from a significant decrease in the dropout rate, there was a shift in the choice of professional courses among the youth that was clearly evident from the spurt in the number of minority students, particularly Muslims, applying for the post-matric scholarships.

During the last two years there were 35 per cent more aspirants for the scholarships. And among them a large number were those going for professional courses.

“This is a good sign for the community. Not so long ago the number of sudents reaching higher classes was fewer but now the trend has reversed”, says Ilyas Rizvi, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Finance Corporation (APSMFC).

All this could be attributed to the scholarship and fee reimbursement given on saturation basis by the government. The number of students seeking the fee benefit has jumped from 1, 21,104 during 2008-09 to 1,65,634 during 2009-10. And among them those opting for professional courses have increased from 33,451 to 52,156. These economically backward students wouldn't have pursued higher studies but for the fee assistance extended by government.

Poor response

However, Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Finance Corporation officials were upset about the poor response to the Government of India scholarships for 2010-2011. Till date only 4,000 applications were received online for the pre-matric scholarships as against the target of 86,700. The number of applicants for the post-matric scholarship was about 3,000 when the target is 17,342 .With July 31 being the last date for applying for scholarships, authorities were worried whether the target could be met .

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