Students are referred to as the youngsters that will brighten the future of the nation. Unfortunately, these same students felt neglected during the Covid-19 pandemic. The sufferings of the students amid the pandemic have been overlooked. Be it their mental trauma or financial distress, the difficulties of the students are neglected so far.
Although the education system is providing them with online classes, so they do not miss out on anything on the learning part. But some of the institutions mainly the private ones have not forgotten about their fees. However, they seem to forget about the circumstances everyone is stuck in, which can be the only reason behind their “No-Reduction” in fee structure.
All this adds up and creates a burdensome situation for the student. To help them out, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Ms. Mamata Banerjee has recently introduced a scheme. A helpful program for the learners in need. As promised by the Trinamool Congress during their election manifesto, they came up with the Student Credit Card Scheme.
During a press briefing, West Bengal’s chief minister told the reporters, “The Cabinet gave its nod to the Student Credit Card scheme. Anyone who has spent 10 years in West Bengal can avail of the benefits of it. The loan will be available for undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral study in India or abroad.”
Adding to that, she also mentioned, “Fifteen years will be given to a student to repay the loan after getting a job.”
This is definitely a beneficiary scheme for the ones who aspire to learn but facing trouble because of the monetary situation. Since numerous children have lost their guardians due to the deadly virus that has surrounded the world. Losing the guardian has caused them mental as well as financial trauma and left them to think about their future. Hence, the scheme will work as a helping hand for the ones who have lost the only earning member of their family. It will assist all the families who have suffered during these hard times.
Before going any further, let us know the minutiae details related to the Student Credit Card Scheme. Here are all the details about the scheme:
- A student can get a soft loan of up to ₹10 lakh with an interest rate of only 4% to pursue higher studies with the help of a credit card.
- One person is eligible for the scheme till 40 years of age.
- 15 years will be given to a student to repay the loan after getting a job.
- The educational loan shall also be extended to students studying in various coaching institutes, preparing to appear in national-level competitive exams, including IITs, IIMs, NLUs, IAS, IPS, WBPS among others.
- The scheme will cover various institutional or non-institutional expenses to ensure no student from West Bengal is deprived of education due to lack of monetary support.
- This loan will be provided without any security or collateral security in a tangible or intangible form other than the co-obligation of parents.
- The institution and department of higher Education will send the application of students to the bank. Students can use the loan amount for institutional as well as non-institutional expenses like rent, hostel fees, study tours, projects, etc.
This scheme has opened the gates of institutions for the covid hit students along with the poor ones. In recent times, almost every student wants to pursue higher education but the blocking stone in their path is the finances that they are unable to meet. A student of class 10 or above can easily avail of this scheme to continue with their higher studies without being a burden on the family. To make use of this loan, students will be provided a credit card. With the help of this credit card, students can withdraw the amount of loan.
Besides this, the student credit card scheme of West Bengal is not limited to pursue education in India. But this also gives chance to the passionate learners to go abroad and seek their desired courses.
So, here’s an announcement from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to all the students of West Bengal who aspire to continue their studies, that do not worry about the monetary fund, just go on and pursue your Dream.
For any further information, you can check the official website of West Bengal Govt.
References:
Image Sources
East Coast Daily English
