87 New Courses in Bihar to be Brought Under Student Credit Card Scheme | 13 Oct 2022

Why In News?

• According to the information received from the media on October 12, 2022, 87 new courses are being brought under the purview of the Student Credit Card Scheme after the opinion taken from seven departments including Agriculture, Medical, Labor, Science and Technology Department, Higher Education of Bihar.

Key Points

• These 87 new courses are being introduced in undergraduate/postgraduate courses in leather, fashion and textile design. Now loans will also be available for the study of all these courses. A high-level committee of the education department has prepared a formal proposal to decide on the policy decisions of the scheme. The entire loan exercise for 87 new courses will be completed by October.
• It is known that so far students get loans for studies in 42 courses in the state. If these 87 new courses are approved, then a total of 129 courses will be available for the study.
• According to departmental experts, this loan scheme includes four-year Bachelor of Agriculture, Master of Agriculture, B.Ed., D.El.Ed, MBA in Agri Business and BBM (four-year course), M.Sc. A. Mass Communication, MSc Statics and Computing, Vocational Courses are being covered in all subjects related to Medical Electrophysiology, Science Technology, ITI and Skills. The maximum 16 courses are related to health. These include BSc Endoscopy, Endoscopy Technology, BSc Radio Therapy, etc.
• With this, 127 new colleges are being added under the Student Credit Card Scheme. In fact, colleges had applied online under this scheme. It has 121 colleges from outside the state, which have NAAC, NBA and NIRF rankings.
• Under the Student Credit Card Scheme, it is also being considered to reduce and increase the loan according to the nature of the course. At present, Rs 4 lakh is given equally for BA and other traditional subjects and Rs 4 lakh for other special subjects. Due to this, colleges have increased the fees significantly.
• The department wants the loan amount to be reduced for the study of ordinary subjects. At the same time, the loan amount for technical courses of NITs and other central educational institutions can be increased to six lakh.
• Within the state, only colleges with naan/NBA/NIRF rankings are under consideration for being considered eligible in the scheme.
• Loans will be given for studies in educational institutions outside the country. In this, loans above Rs 50 lakh are proposed. The quota will be fixed for the number of beneficiaries.
• It is noteworthy that from April 2021 to March 31, 2022, Rs 756.49 crore has been distributed to 36167 applicants. At the same time, from April 2022 to September 18, 628.80 crores have been disbursed to 36924 students as loans. A target has been set to disburse loans to one lakh students in the current financial year.