The AP state government has decided to introduce “eZee pay card” system to disburse scholarships to students from this year, the first of its kind experiment in the country.
State social welfare minister P Satyanarayana said the easy pay cards will be given to students who do not have bank accounts. Under the new system, the card holders will draw their scholarship amount from the ATMs of public sector banks. This year, the amount will be paid to the beneficiaries in a single installment and from next year, it will be paid quarterly and from 2012, students will get the scholarships every month through the easy cards.
The new system will be applicable to about 3 lakh students who applied for fresh scholarships this year. The minister said it was an effort to streamline the government-sponsored scholarship scheme for BC, SC, ST and economically backward classes.
The total number of scholarship beneficiaries in the state is about 20 lakh. In 2009-10, government released Rs 370 crore towards scholarship to the students. In view of the increasing demand for fee reimbursement, Satyanarayana said that the last date to submit online application to avail fee reimbursement has been extended from December 10 to 15.
Till date, 13 lakh students renewed their names and 3 lakh fresh students applied online. Last year, the total number of beneficiaries under fee reimbursement scheme was about 24 lakh.
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