The Chennai Corporation hopes to provide an assistance scheme for its students to avail educational loans once they complete plus two. The civic body is in talks with public sector banks to enable the scheme from the next academic year.
Most of the students at Corporation schools are from economically poor backgrounds, and often struggle to get educational loans from banks.
As many as 6,500 plus two students from Corporation schools will benefit from the scheme. “Last year, we gave scholarships to 300 students. Most of the other students were unable to pursue higher education,” said a Corporation official.
“Parents in slum neighbourhoods do not have awareness on education loans. This is the first time the Corporation has decided to help students get education loans. Mentors at schools have collected data about students to assist them in paying fees for higher education,” added the official.
R. Shankaranarayanan, principal of a Corporation school in Maduvankarai, said while 22 of the 341 students in his school joined engineering courses last year, the others were unable to join good courses. “Parents do not have awareness and do not go for bank loans. We will start discussions with all parents shortly,” he said.
