Govt to provide interest subsidy on educational loan

NEW DELHI: The government will provide interest subsidy on educational loans and also start a scholarship scheme to help poor and meritorious students get professional education.

The government would launch a scheme under which interest subsidy would be provided on educational loans taken by students belonging to economically weaker sections for pursuing professional education, Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh today said at a conference of state ministers of higher education.

The government would also start a national merit scholarship scheme that would cover about 41,000 boys and the same number of girls based on their performance at the intermediate examination.

Each student under the scheme would get Rs 1,000 per month for ten months for the first two years and Rs 2,000 monthly for the subsequent period, he said.

The scholarship would cover top two per cent of the students in class XII.

The government has already launched another scholarship programme since 2006 for single girl children securing more than 60 per cent marks in class X and class XII.

In addition, the government has increased the M.Tech assistance from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000.