Medical Students With Income Less Than Rs.8 Lakh to Get 50% off Fess
Updated: Apr 23, 2018, 02.30 AM IST
In a boon to lakhs of families, the Maharashtra government has extended a 50 per cent fee waiver to all students who want to pursue courses in medical or dental colleges and whose annual family income is Rs 8 lakh or less. The State Education Fee Reimbursement scheme has been renamed the Rajashri Shahu Maharaj Fee Reimbursement scheme and the annual family income of families belonging to Economically Backward Class (EBC) has been increased from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 Lakh. The rule will be applicable from this academic year (2018-2019) and 50 per cent of the student’s fees for MBBS and BDS courses will be borne by the government.
The rule will be applicable to all government medical colleges, aided and unaided private medical colleges and dental colleges in the state. However the state government had recently issued a resolution saying that the eligibility criteria to get benefits under the EBC category was a family income of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh. However, the director of medical education and research has now said that the amount has been raised to Rs 8 lakh and soon orders will be issued to colleges accordingly.
There are around 16 government colleges and 17 private ones in the state registered with the directorate of medical education and research (DMER). Every academic year, these 33 institutes offer 4,500 MBBS seats — 3,000 in government colleges and 1,500 in private ones.
Dr Pravin Shingare, director of medical education and research, said, “Till now, the income limit to avail of these benefits was Rs 6 lakh, which has now changed and been increased to Rs 8 lakh.” Earlier, very few students were eligible for the scheme and despite getting seats in the medical colleges, they were not taking admission, preferring instead to opt for arts, science or commerce as they could not bear the expenses of private medical colleges.”
Shingare added, “Students whose families’ annual income was above Rs 6 lakh and up to Rs 8 lakh were often caught in such situations. Now, they will be able to avail educational loans as 50 per cent of the fees will be borne by the government. Earlier, it was only affluent students taking admission in private medical colleges but now, the meritorious students from EBC can fulfil their dreams, too.”
Dr Suchitra Nagre, trustee and director of Maharashtra Institute of Medical Education and Research, said, “The fees structure of private medical colleges is huge and most students cannot afford to pay the fees of the MBBS course. It is also tough for them to get an education loan, so they often end up compromising and going for other courses. This is a good move and will help a huge number of students falling in this income category.”
However, she added, “The amount that the government is bearing is massive. Even though it will certainly be a great relief for thousands of students and their families, we have also asked the government to reconsider the scheme and perhaps set some limitations as some of the fee amounts, especially for private colleges, are truly exorbitant.”
Source : Pune Mirror
