Bihar: Now, avail education loan at just 1% interest
2 min readPATNA: Girls, transgenders and differently-abled students of Bihar willing to pursue higher education can now avail education loan upto Rs 4 lakh at just one per cent interest under the Students Credit Card (SSC) scheme.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday inaugurated State Education Finance Corporation (BSEFC) to speed up his government’s SCC scheme.
Under the SSC scheme, other students would have to pay interest at the rate of 4% only for education loans.
Addressing a colourful function after inaugurating the corporation at ‘Samvad’ auditorium in Patna, Nitish said the state government set up the corporation as an alternative to commercial banks to speed up distribution of education loan among 12th pass students under the SCC scheme.
He said the commercial banks prefer to provide education loans mainly to the students pursuing technical education.
“But under the state government’s SCC scheme, the loan will be available to even those students willing to pursue general education after passing Class 12 examination. Even students studying different courses in polytechnic institutions can avail this loan,” Nitish said.
CM said the banks were taking too much time in sanctioning loans under the SCC even after students fulfilling all norms. “The banks approved loan applications of altogether 18,242 students, but loan was sanctioned to only 12,050 students,” Nitish said but didn’t disclose the loan were distributed to how many students.
CM also said the main objective behind implementing the SCC scheme was to increase the state’s gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education.
“Prior to the launch of SCC scheme, the GER of post-intermediate students in Bihar was 13.9%. But after launch the SCC scheme, the GER rose to 14.3% in Bihar whereas it is 24% at national level,” Nitish said adding his government had decided to increase the state’s GER upto 30% in next few years. After that, the government would work to take the GER upto 35% and 40% in consequent years, he said.
Courtesy: TNN
