Fee reimbursement: will they, won’t they?

Students from Seemandhra who study in Ranga Reddy district’s colleges in the dark over the status of scheme. The fee reimbursement programme was initiated by the Congress government in 2008 when Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was Chief Minister.

Days ahead of the appointed date for State bifurcation, students across various colleges are an anxious lot. There is yet no clarity on the continuation of scholarship and fee reimbursement schemes in both States. More worrisome is the question of fee reimbursement for students belonging to Seemandhra who study in scores of engineering colleges in Ranga Reddy district.

District officials in charge of the scholarships say they have no guidelines yet on how the scheme would be implemented in the newly-formed States. However, unconfirmed reports claim the scheme would be applicable for students who have already been admitted to colleges in the respective States, but would not continue for those getting admitted after State bifurcation.

The fee reimbursement programme was initiated by the Congress government in 2008 when Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was Chief Minister, and was continued by his successors too. The scheme brought engineering and medical education closer to a large number of students from economically weaker sections who would otherwise not have been able to afford expensive private colleges. Students of postgraduate, management courses and B.Ed. programmes were the other beneficiaries of the scheme.

There are nearly 1,100 colleges in Ranga Reddy, including Intermediate, degree, postgraduate, engineering, medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing, B.Ed., polytechnic, ITI, law and other colleges.

Of them, nearly 190 are private engineering colleges that host many students from outside the district. The 350 junior colleges also constitute many branches of private corporate institutions drawing students from across the State.

“We have not got our scholarships or reimbursements for the year 2013-14, and do not know if the scheme will be continued, and if it is, whether we would get the fee reimbursement from the government,” said P. Kavitha, a third-year B.Tech. student at Ibrahimpatnam.

There are a total of 16 lakh students from the SC, ST and OBC categories throughout the State availing the fee reimbursement benefits. In Ranga Reddy district alone, there are 1.56 lakh OBC and 43,000 EBC beneficiaries of the scheme, and 48,000 from the SC category.

“Only 60 per cent of the disbursement is complete for the year 2013-14, and the remainder amounts to Rs.210 crore, for which allotment has been made. But we have not received specific instructions on disbursement to students from Seemandhra,” said Ramana Rao, the BC Welfare Officer, Ranga Reddy district.