Bhubaneswar: Students hailing from the underprivileged families of Odisha will get a state assistance of `20,000 per year to complete under-graduation and post-graduation courses.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the scheme Friday to help students from vulnerable backgrounds to ensure that their education is not affected by financial problems.
As per the scheme’s norms, five categories of students will get state assistance. The categories who would benefit are children of parents with HIV, the children of parents who are suffering from incurable diseases, children of landless and homeless families and those of single mothers.
The state has also imposed some conditions to avail the scheme. The scheme will entertain applications only from students who are permanent residents of Odisha, and only for courses which are offered by state educational institutions or courses recognised by them.
Families whose incomes are less than `1 lakh per annum are also eligible for help under the scheme. The scheme’s guidelines say that it is meant to help vulnerable sections of society.
The scheme says, “In order to make higher education accessible to students belonging to underprivileged sections, the Higher Education department proposes a ‘Financial Assistance Scheme.”
Students who meet the eligibility criteria can apply using the application form available online with the Higher Education department. They must submit two printed hard copies of the online application and relevant documents to the Principal/ Head of institution where they are studying for further processing.
Higher education aid to deprived students
