New Delhi Delhi students, who wish to study in government-run institutions outside Delhi, will also be eligible to avail loans under the Delhi government’s Higher Education and Skill Development Guarantee Scheme.
Till now the scheme was restricted to funding for city students willing to pursue higher studies in government institutions in the capital. The decision to extend the ambit of the scheme was cleared in the Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday.
The Cabinet also decided that for the 55,000 students, who had failed the class 9 exams twice through CBSE and then the class 10 CBSE correspondence exams too, the Delhi government would provide extra classes and would be allowed to retake the class 10 exams through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).
LOANS EXTENDED
Under the scheme, students from Delhi who wish to pursue higher education are given Rs10 lakh without any collateral or third party guarantee. They will also be given a moratorium period of the time required to finish the course and year thereafter to find a job, before they have to start repaying the EMIs.
Earlier the loan was available only for those students who wanted to study in government institutions in Delhi.
“Now, if a student of Delhi studies in any government college or government-run institution, be it IITs, IIMs, or any other institution, even other state government institutions, they will also get the loan,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also heads the education department, said at a press conference post the Cabinet meeting.
Kejriwal had first spoken of the idea in May this year while addressing government school students who had cleared the IIT-JEE (Mains) exams. The scheme has been passed in the cabinet now.
RETAKE EXAMS
Of the almost 62,000 students who had failed Class 9 twice, and were then allowed to sit for the CBSE Patrachar (correspondence) class 10 exams, almost 55,000 students have failed to clear the exams. The cabinet on Tuesday decided that these students would be allowed to retake the class 10 exams through the NIOS, which is a “simpler programme.”
Sisodia, said that students who had failed class 9 twice, and would have been “automatically dropped out” of the system, had been given an option last year to sit for the class 10 exams through the CBSE patrachar.
They had been provided with remedial classes and support material and around 7,000 of them passed the class 10; almost 2,000 in the first attempt and 5,000 after completing compartment exams.
“They will be taught like ‘regular’ students. There will be centres in different places, so that students don’t have to travel far. There will be more centres for girls. The difference is that NIOS students will get credit,” explained Sisodia.
According to the credit system, a student has to appear for only those exams that he has failed to clear previously. Even if you cleared a subject under CBSE patrachaar, the credit will get carried forward.
Kejriwal had earlier spoken of the opportunity during his Independence Day speech.
[“source=hindustantimes”]
