In an attempt to streamline fee reimbursement (now changed to Financial Assistance to Students of Telangana - FAST), the Telangana Government plans to cut down the link between the Government and the colleges by depositing the scholarship money directly into the students’ accounts.
Among the new norms proposed by a committee of senior officials, there will be no link between the Government and the colleges in future and the latter have to directly deal with students on fee payment. This was one of the key proposals made by the committee among several others. The report would be sent to the Chief Minister for a final decision in a couple of days.
To cut down bogus students and false claims, the committee has also suggested installation of biometric machines for registering students’ attendance in all colleges and connect the same to the concerned university.
“This will differentiate the serious students from the fake ones,” an official said. The FAST scheme is also making 75 per cent attendance mandatory if students wish to get financial assistance.
Another key proposal is making 50 or 60 per cent marks mandatory to gain eligibility and benefit will not be passed on to students automatically even if they get promoted to the next year. Moreover, the Government will not guarantee the full reimbursement to all the candidates. The committee suggested that only the top 10 per cent or 20 per cent candidates in the entrance exam may be given full reimbursement while there will be a ceiling limit for all eligible candidates. The differential amount has to be borne by the students.
Officials said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao strongly believes that the scheme is grossly misused and that the colleges have mushroomed around that concept. “There is a need to break the link between colleges and fee reimbursement. The FAST scheme would enhance quality unlike fee reimbursement that created mediocre colleges leading to downslide of quality education,” attest officials.
