Jagananna Vidya Deevena: around 20,000 mothers defaulted on payment of fee to colleges in 2023-24 in Andhra Pradesh

[andhra_jp]

In the academic year 2023-24, mothers of around 20,000 students who were beneficiaries of Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme, defaulted on payment of the fees to the respective college managements of their wards after receiving the financial assistance from the government for the purpose, said official sources. Subsequently, the government paid the fees of these students directly to the college managements.

The Vidya Deevena scheme provides for complete reimbursement of fee to students belonging to to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Backward Class and Economically Backward Classes (other than Kapu), minority sections and differently-abled categories.

As part of its decision to empower the mother of the student, the government started releasing the fee amount payable to the students to the bank accounts of their mothers from the academic year 2020-21. The government also issued instructions to conduct counselling to mothers to monitor the functioning of the colleges and the academic performance of their children.

But soon complaints by college managements against students’ mothers defaulting on the payment started emerging from some sections. The managements said they were incurring financial losses as there were strict instructions from the government not to collect fees from students who were beneficiaries of the scheme at the time of admissions.

To address the issue, the government put in place a system under which the colleges are notified of the release of money to the account of the mothers by the government as soon as the amounts are credited. In case a mother does not pay the money she received from the government to the college management within a week, the college management should file a complaint through the department’s Jnanabhumi portal and this service is made available after seven days from the date of credit of the amount to the accounts of mothers. The complaints are referred either to the Welfare and Education Assistant or the Ward Education and Data Processing Secretary concerned, who then consult the defaulting mother, verify the facts and ask the mothers concerned to remit the money to the colleges. This process should be completed within 10 days of the filing of the complaint by a college management.

If the money is not remitted within three weeks of the complaint lodged by a college, the institution is at liberty to collect the fee/dues from the student/mother as per the norms applicable for collection of fee due from students who are not eligible for post-Matric scholarship scheme. The government will release the subsequent instalments of the scheme to the mother, only after the previously released fee is remitted to the college.

[AndhraAbbai]

Ee fees reimbursement ante ne oka trash ...