Govt plans easy academic loans
The UPA government is planning to set up an educational finance corporation to ensure easy availability of educational loans for professional courses and financing facility for investors in the education sector.
Union minister for human resource development, Kapil Sibal, told reporters here on Sunday that most banks did not give out educational loans without adequate guarantee. “But the proposed educational finance corporation (EFC) which should come into existence within one year, will provide government guarantee for such loans,” he said.
The minister said that there was a proposal to give all degrees in demat format so that the qualifications and the loan details of a student can be put into his UID card, making it easy for his employer to deduct the loan installments from his salary.
The EFC will also provide cheap credit for investors in the educational sector.
The minister said that his ministry was formulating a proposal under which the results of Class 12 would be given 70 per weightage in entrance examination and the scores in the aptitude test would be given 30 per weightage.
“This will cut out capitation fees being charged by various institutions and also reduce dependence on coaching classes. Besides this, we are also putting forward a core curriculum for science subjects and various educational boards can draw up their syllabus based on the core curriculum. This will bring an element of uniformity in board examinations,” he explained.
Replying to a question, the minister said that the share of states in the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan was likely to be reduced considerably from the existing 45 per cent. He said that the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan would be linked to Right To Education (RTE) Act and the five year budget for both was around Rs 2,31,000 crore.
He said that any state that dithers on implementing the Right To Education would be answerable to the people. “The respective state governments will have to tell their people that they do not want their children to be educated. The Right To Education does not interfere in any state’s rights except in ensuring that the teachers are adequately qualified to teach,” he said.
Lauding the education sector in Tamil Nadu, the minister said that there were no unqualified or under-qualified teachers in the state.
Talking about the Congress in UP, Mr Sibal said that the party would end its 23-year-long “vanvas” (exile ) in 2012 after which there will be “Ram Rajya” in Uttar Pradesh.
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